


Lunar Time Loops

by Lunarcentric



Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Metal Fight Beyblade | Beyblade: Metal Fusion
Genre: Gen, time loops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-10-09 09:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 42,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10408992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarcentric/pseuds/Lunarcentric
Summary: Basically time loops involving fandoms I work with in my big story Mooniverse, though at this point it's non-canon and discontinued.Involved: Beyblade Metal Saga, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Voltron Force(ish), Bakugan, OCs





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [MLP Loops](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/278781) by Saphroneth. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been bored and suffering Writer's Block and my sister seems to be supporting me with this dumb idea so I guess why not.  
> Anyway, time loops. Beyblade for now, just a starting thing, see if people like it. Inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh and MLP time loop stories that I've read, but not in the same multiverse. This is a separate thing, no Yggdrasil needing fixed, I have my own stuff. I just don't feel comfortable adding into something so huge.

1.1

After the Legendary Bladers had defeated Nemesis for the fifth time, Gingka was starting to think something was wrong.

At first he'd thought he was in a dream, reliving the actions he'd taken since L-Drago had been stolen from Koma Village. He'd stuck to things as closely as possible, not really upset with the idea – it gave him a chance to return to great memories, like meeting Kenta and Madoka, finding Galaxy Pegasus, and all of the other treasured times he loved.

But reliving it four times? That couldn't be right.

So when he woke up on the water tower in Kenta's town for the sixth time, he wondered if this might be some kind of punishment. Was he... _not_ supposed to defeat Nemesis?

No, that was dumb. Why wouldn't saving the world be the right thing to do?

Maybe this time he'd try something different. Sticking to the plans hadn't changed anything, clearly, but if he deviated...

 

Gingka wanted to start small. He waited for a little while – he helped Kenta as normal, because Kenta was his friend and that was the right thing to do, but when the Facehunters came to get him for the One-Hundred-Bey-Battle, he got an idea.

Looking back, maybe using Tornado Wing and sort of accidentally breaking most of those Beys wasn't _exactly_ a small change, but hey, at least it wasn't Galaxy Nova.

Meeting Madoka had been more fun when he was able to help her with Pegasus's repairs. After living things through five times, he'd picked up a bit on how she worked, and together the two of them were able to fully repair Pegasus before the night was over, so that hadn't been an issue to deal with during his first battle with Kyoya.

That went just about the same. Gingka cared a lot about his rivalry with Kyoya – it didn't feel right to show him up like that, but he sprinkled in some carefully picked words about why he'd come to their city, hoping that Kyoya's interest would be piqued. Maybe he would open up a bit more, or at least be spared being Doji's puppet.

He explained everything carefully to Kenta and Madoka while they worked on Sagitarrio later that day. He knew now that keeping his mission to himself wasn't the smartest thing to do – and knowing that his dad was alive helped tremendously. As he knew they would be, his friends were wary, but still supportive.

 

Basically, Gingka spent this run-through making tweaks, seeing what worked and what didn't. Most things in the middle areas he left alone, but he kept his points from Tetsuya – looking back, he felt foolish for falling for it the first time – and all in all kept a cool head during everything, even the final battle against Ryuga.

The World Championship went well. He wasn't sure how to handle the dark power that had infested Tsubasa, but he kept Yu from going off on his own in Brazil, and urged Masamune to talk about his life. He wasn't able to keep Damian from injuring Tsubasa and Yu, but thought he made up for it a little by defeating the Kerbecs Blader much quicker than usual. He hoped that even Damian might see the way of the Blader's spirit.

After Spiral Force, he once again aided in Pegasus's repairs. He was the one to witness the Star Fragment entering the Bey. At this point, he let things pan out how they usually did, only bringing out more power at the final battle – thanks to that, they didn't require a second round.

It was nice. Mediating slightly was interesting, but Gingka was starting to think of how he might stir things up a little more in the next go-round...

 

1.2

“Hey, Gingka?”

“What is it, Kenta?”

Gingka was puzzled by the sudden change in script. It had been...he had no idea how many runs it had been, but he'd memorized how things went when he didn't change them – the “base run”, he called it. Kenta didn't ever ask for his attention like this here by the harbor, their first night as friends. His younger friend looked quite worried, too, which was another deviation. Gingka hadn't changed anything so far...

“Does anything seem...weird to you?” Kenta asked nervously after a bit of silence. “I-I mean, like...how should I put this...”

Gingka felt his brow furrow. “What's wrong, Kenta?”

“I just...okay, um, how about...”

The way Kenta looked at him in the following pause made Gingka straighten. Kenta looked...older, somehow. Something was definitely different about this run, and it wasn't something small that Gingka had caused on his own.

The ginger haired Blader braced himself for whatever Kenta was going to say next.

“This might sound really strange, but do the words 'Legendary Bladers' mean anything to you?”

 

It was happening to Kenta, too.

Gingka suddenly wasn't alone.

He went home with Kenta that night and slept at his house, delaying the One-Hundred-Bey-Battle for three whole days as the two caught up and planned.

And boy, did they plan.

 

“Gingka Hagane. I'm surprised to see you again. You're not still mad at me, are you?”

The ginger, standing calmly as he faced the newly awakened Ryuga, gave a cheery grin and waved. “Oh hey Ryuga! What's up?”

Ryuga stared back at him for a moment, saying nothing, but Gingka saw the confusion on his face. He laughed. “Oh, I'm not mad at you! You didn't do anything wrong, after all! Not on purpose anyway!”

The blank stare continued, while Gingka stalled a bit more, waiting for his friends to catch up. “How's it been, buddy? It's been a while! Anything fun happen recently?”

He finally gained a reaction. “You've lost your mind, haven't you?” Ryuga grinned, probably thinking Gingka had cracked since their last encounter. “Well well well! No daddy to keep you company!”

Gingka waited a few seconds, hearing his friends call out to him, then laughed in reply. “Dad? Oh, he's doing great! You really did a number on him, but he's back and better than ever!”

Ryuga let out a cackle, but Gingka cut him off with a, “By the way, did you know that Doji's using you so that he can revive an ancient god of destruction and that he sees you as nothing but a little lowly worm?”

He clearly had everyone's attention now. Ryuga's glare was instantaneous, but the Pegasus Blader continued. “Oh yeah, he works for this secret cult! Didn't you know? None of this is for you, he just wants the world to burn!”

“Nonsense!” There was Doji, trying to snuff out his claims.

“At the end of the line, you're just a pawn in his plan!” The Sagitarrio Blader added fuel to the fire that Gingka was building, startling the others. “How could someone so strong as you fall for something like that, huh?”

Ryuga's glare snapped to Doji. Kenta knew he'd never trusted the man, and saw Doji as _his_ pawn. “Doji!”

“Y-Yes, Ryuga?”

The rest went as the boys had hoped. Ryuga quickly turned on Doji, challenging him for the truth. Doji cracked, and was soon no longer part of the picture.

Gingka faced Ryuga, as per usual, but there was no anger from him to fuel L-Drago. By now he had battled the pair so many times he knew the tricks and turns, and asking his friends to lend him their strength provided him with a Galaxy Nova just strong enough to crack the dark Bey and win the battle with not much problem at all.

Even more thrilling? Storm Pegasus didn't go anywhere. It was damaged, yes, but nothing they couldn't fix.

 

They left Ryuga to his devices, Gingka and Kenta knowing the dragon Blader would turn up again without the dark power controlling him. It was a pleasant few months of fun battles that awaited them, in between the “Awake” pair trying to figure out how to stop Ziggurat early without putting Toby's life at risk, and wondering how Storm Pegasus would hold up during the tournament anyway.

 

1.3

Gingka and Kenta had thrown whatever punches they could in the first third of their journey for ages now, but they were starting to run out of ideas. You could only switch Beyblades and track down Ryou for help early so many times before even that got boring.

So when Gingka “woke up” to find himself in a warehouse full of Facehunters, he was definitely stumped.

It took him about ten seconds to realize this was a very different kind of time loop. Somehow, _he_ was the leader of the Facehunters.

He grinned. This was going to be fun.

 

With Kenta instructed to follow the basic course, Gingka figured he didn't have to wait long before Kyoya arrived in town in his place. He'd always wanted to try something with the lion Blader, but it was impossible to do with Kyoya's personality.

Sure enough, after a few days, Kenta was saved from Benkei and his little crew by Kyoya and Leone. The young boy wasted no time in befriending his savior, going through the motions and finding the cheery personality of the green haired Blader quite a nice change. After Kyoya fell asleep on the hill, like Gingka normally would, Kenta happily did the same, not wanting to miss what was going to happen the next morning.

 

Kyoya awoke to someone spraying him with a water bottle. “Wha—huh?”

The ginger above him, two scars on his face and wearing rugged blue clothing, tossed the spray bottle aside and held down his hand. “Haha, sorry about that! Nothing else I tried worked!”

The Leone Blader blinked, taking the hand and letting the stranger help him to his feet. “Who are you?”

“We-ell, that's not really important right now! What's important is that you're new in town, and I heard from Kenta that you took on some of the Facehunters all by yourself!” The ginger seemed quite cheery, and Kyoya felt himself smile at the friendly face.

“It wasn't anything special. Leone and I have faced far tougher challenges than some punks like them!”

“I'd love to hear about them! I'm a Blader too, and listening to stories about awesome battles just gets me all fired up!”

Kyoya laughed, not noticing how his new companion's face lit up with shock at the sound. As he noticed Kenta there as well, he shook his head. “How can I say no?”

The three introduced themselves, then chatted for a bit until Kenta took Kyoya off to introduce him to his friends. Gingka returned to the Facehunters, acting as if nothing had happened.

 

It was a very pleasant time loop – Gingka enjoyed being on friendly terms with Kyoya – who had been just as confused as the Facehunters when Gingka revealed his actions - and let things go mostly as planned. Sure, he joined Kyoya in the return to Koma Village, knowing the plan beforehand and all, but that was mostly because he made it a tradition to always make that trip. He wanted to see Kyoya win things for once...not including their rivalry, of course. That was on more even grounds, both Bladers taking victories.

It was really weird that his dad had been replaced by “Kakeru” – apparently Kyoya's younger brother – for the loop, though. “Divine Chimera” was both his alias and his Bey. Gingka was excited to see if he'd turn up again.

 

As the loop drew to its end – as always, just before the final battle between him and Kyoya prior to Nemesis's defeat, Gingka was proud of this one. He'd made a lot of fun memories.

Maybe next time he “woke up” in this kind of situation, he'd do it seriously. That could be interesting.

 

1.4

Gingka was in a stare off with the unscheduled visitor to the B-Pit. So far, the loop had been a base run, an Unawake Kenta and everyone else giving him a bit of nostalgia for the old days. They'd only just gotten to the B-Pit, not even down to Madoka's workshop yet, and yet for some reason, Kyoya was inside waiting for them.

Madoka let out a startled cry at the sight of the Blader inside her family store – as an interesting note, Gingka _still_ hadn't met her father and was constantly questioning his existence – that was cut off when the ginger held up his arm. “Madoka, Kenta, get back outside. I'll deal with this.”

Kyoya often did things off-schedule, but usually it wasn't until after their first battle. Gingka waited until his friends were safely outside, then put a hand near his launcher, showing his many-times rival that he wasn't afraid. “What brings you here?”

Kyoya gave an unimpressed 'hmph', uncharacteristic of his early base run self. “Nothing's been making sense, so I thought I'd go to the usual source of trouble.”

“Usual?”

“It always starts here, doesn't it? You show up, and everything else trails in behind you!”

It took Gingka a moment to realize what was going on. Using the same tactic Kenta had in his first loop, he asked, “Do the words 'Legendary Bladers' mean anything to you?”

“You mean aside from the fact that I have to _wait_ to get that power again?”

Gingka grinned. “Kyoya! You're looping!”

“Excuse me?!”

The ginger quickly explained the basics of what was going on – not much else to it besides “We're repeating time over and over” - and Kyoya allowed him to bring Madoka and Kenta back inside. Once the two were assured Kyoya wasn't a threat, the lion Blader shoved his Bey towards the mechanic without any warning.

“You fix Beys,” he said bluntly when she only stared at Leone. “Fix mine.”

“O...Oh! Okay!” While still a bit frightened, Madoka couldn't refuse a request for repairs.

 

“So you've been Awake for about four times now?” Gingka asked quietly, as he and Kyoya sat on the couch in the workshop.

Kyoya nodded. “It's always the same. Nothing ever changed.”

“I know how you feel, Kyoya. It was really hard for me too. Kenta didn't Awaken for the first time until...I dunno, I couldn't keep track at that point!”

“If he's...Awake,” Kyoya tested the push Gingka was giving the word, sensing its importance, “then why's he acting like...”

He waved to the other side of the workshop, where Kenta remained at Madoka's side, glancing nervously over every few seconds.

Gingka shook his head. “He isn't, not this loop anyway. It kinda goes back and forth. Sometimes I'm Awake and he's not, sometimes the other way around, sometimes it's both of us and we just go crazy with it.”

“Isn't doing the same thing over and over...”

“It isn't always the same!” Gingka assured him. “Sounds like you've only had base runs until now. They follow what originally happened, no changes or anything. We get a lot of those, but after so long, even making the smallest changes make it turn interesting. Sometimes I let Madoka take my place and she really takes charge!”

Kyoya glanced dubiously at the mechanic working hard on both Leone and Pegasus, deaf to their conversation. “I'll believe _that_ when I see it.”

Gingka grinned. “Hey, she's a Blader, too! You know she always saves Leone in the Survival Battle, no matter what? Once she didn't even bring her Bey and took Pegasus!”

The green haired boy shook his head. “This is all crazy.”

“Yeah, but you gotta make the best of it!” Gingka stood up. “I'm gonna help Madoka with the repairs. It'll go faster that way, and I'm really looking forward to our battle!”

The thought of battling Gingka brought a large smirk to Kyoya's face. “Don't think it'll be the same this time, Gingka!”

Gingka's laugh had Kenta and Madoka giving him odd looks. “Are you kidding? It'll never be the same again, and that's what's so great about it!”

 

“This is what you want to do?” Gingka asked again, as Kyoya prepared himself for the upcoming battle. “Just because you know how it goes-”

“I've been wanting to kick that guy off his high horse for way too long to let old attempts knock me down!” Kyoya shot back. “And once I beat him, you're next!”

 

“Whadya know,” Gingka mused as Ryuga collapsed, the dark spirits of L-Drago dissipating. “He beat Ryuga.”

Kenta nodded, having Awoken on their way to Koma Village – they'd all made the trip together, Gingka insisting he couldn't skip it. “Well, now Kyoya gets to face you in the finals, like he's always wanted.”

“Yep.” Gingka thought he was looking forward to it as much as Kyoya was.

 

1.5

During a Loop where Gingka was letting Kenta take the hero position – they and Kyoya often switched out – they were caught off guard when a startlingly new face joined them at their farewell battles before training for Battle Bladers.

She didn't battle anyone, and no one else knew her, but she looked harmless. Her lavender hair looked somewhat like a cloud, and she wore a long purple dress. The three Awake Bladers all noticed her genuine wonder in the battles, as if Beyblade was something brand new to her.

After the group said its farewells and their Sleeping friends were all gone, the three approached her. She didn't seem surprised, just giving them a serene smile as she offered, “Hi.”

“Um, hi.” Kenta smiled back, a bit cautiously. “Is there something we can help you with?”

The girl seemed confused, not answering. Gingka added, “We've never seen you before, so we thought-”

“-that this might be related to your time loops?” the strange girl finished smoothly.

The Bladers stared at her, and she let out a giggle. “Sorry. I'm...still getting used to not doing that.”

“You know about the time loops?” Gingka managed. “Are you...” He stopped as she shook her head.

“No, I don't loop like you. It's kinda hard to explain, and..isn't totally why I'm here.”

“So who are you and what do you want?” Kyoya snapped.

The girl just smiled. “Call me Yona. What I want is to ask if you'd like some answers about the time loops, and why they're happening.”

Of _course_ they wanted to know why the time loops were happening. That must have been clear on their faces, because her smile brightened.

“When this loop ends, you'll wake up somewhere different, okay? I'll explain things there! It's hard for me to stay here, or I'd tell you now...”

Kenta frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

'Yona' tilted her head slightly. “That's...also a kinda hard thing to explain. And I think I only have a few minutes left...oh! I do need to ask, what are your names?”

The boys exchanged glances, not entirely sure what to make of the girl.

“I'm Gingka. Gingka Hagane.”

“My name's Kenta.”

“Kyoya.”

Yona nodded, looking suddenly determined. “Gingka, Kenta, and Kyoya. Okay!” She stood, brushing off her dress a bit, though there didn't seem to be a speck of dirt on it. “I'll see you after this loop ends, then! Don't forget about me, okay?”

“We won't,” Gingka promised. Kenta nodded in agreement; Kyoya gave a grunt that could've meant anything.

“Okay! Bye-bye, then!” Yona turned around and ran into the wall, disappearing.

“Well I _definitely_ won't forget her now,” Kenta said after a minute or so.

The other two nodded in agreement..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I hope you liked it? Five written things seemed to be a good start for my anxious-as-heck self. Let me know if you think this would be something cool for me to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey I didn't give up on this yet how 'bout that
> 
> I'm not totally satisfied with these, but this is a learning experience for me. I'll write what I write.

2.1

Gingka Awoke to someone gently shaking him. “Huh-?”

He sat up, finding a blond haired girl to be the culprit, smiling nervously. He accepted her help in standing up, but was puzzled as no memories came to him for the new Loop.

“Are you Gingka-san?” the girl asked. Gingka nodded. “My name is Nanami Lucia. You were brought her by Yona-san, right?”

Mention of the purple girl brought him up to speed. _When this loop ends, you'll wake up somewhere different, okay?_ “Yeah, I think so...”

As he looked around, he discovered they were on the hill where he and Kenta had become friends for the first time – and many times after. “So, Nanami-san,” he started, grateful for the countless loops where honorifics had entered the fray, “is this...uh... Did Yona bring you here, too?”

“You can call me Lucia!” she smiled. “As for Yona-san, it wasn't her. It was her sister, Dinis-san.”

Gingka nodded. “So...Lucia, is this your...town?” He didn't know how else to ask something like this. Was she Looping as well, or...?

Lucia shook her head. “This hill is familiar, but not quite right... And my town definitely doesn't have just one building.”

“Huh?”

His new companion led him up the hill, where indeed, there stood just a single house – a cabin of sorts, really. Gingka blinked, “Where are we?”

“Dinis-san says we are in a...hub world,” Lucia explained. “We're going to learn about the Loops here.”

“Really?”

“There are already some of us inside. We're just waiting for you and one other person now.”

“Well then, let's go!” Gingka was eager to get some answers. He followed Lucia to the door, and opened it, wondering if his friends were among the waiting.

To his relief, there they were – Kenta sat on one of three couches in the single room, while Kyoya looked over from where he leaned on the wall. “It's about time you showed up,” he snapped.

Five others were there as well – Yona sat with a man and woman behind a long desk, not unlike the ones he'd used himself during conferences during the World Tournament and after the Nemesis Crisis. On another couch sat a girl that looked rather similar to Tetsuya; the third held a girl in a long red dress and, oddly, a penguin in a sailor's suit.

“Hi Gingka!” Yona waved cheerfully from behind the desk. “Go ahead and introduce yourself to everyone, okay? We're still waiting on one of Stratea's!”

Lucia joined the pair on the third couch, nodding to them. The penguin, to his surprise, stood from its seat and began to speak.

“My name is Hippo, companion to Lucia-san for longer than I can remember!”

“A penguin named Hippo?” Gingka couldn't help but ask.

“Hippo-san is actually a hippocampus,” the girl beside him explained. “This form is the one that takes the least amount of energy for him to keep.” At Gingka's nod, she added, “My name is Yuuri.”

“My name is Watarigani Megumi!” the Tetsuya lookalike announced. “Or Megan Grant if I'm blond!”

Not going to try figuring that out for the moment, Gingka gave everyone a nod. “Hagane Gingka,” he said, rolling with the surname-first theme. It wasn't new to him – the Loops often switched preferences.

“Dinis,” the woman behind the desk nodded politely. _Yona's sister, then,_ Gingka noted, though the gray color scheme was quite different.

The man gave a nod of his own. “Stratea.” His color scheme was nothing but green. “Yona, Dinis and I are siblings of a sort.”

“And yes, they all have that sort of stupid color thing going on,” Kyoya added abruptly.

“Hey, green's a great color!” Megumi protested. The lion Blader ignored her.

Dinis sighed. “I know the circumstances are strange for you, but please behave yourselves. Once Pesuth is collected, we can begin answering your questions.”

Gingka took a seat beside Kenta, who leaned towards him and whispered, “Pesuth is another sibling. She got lost, so Megumi-san's friend went out to find her.”

The ginger nodded – he was doing a lot of that, he realized – and looked around again. Lucia was braiding Yuuri's hair, and Hippo kept glancing at Megumi. The penguin was trying to be secretive, but when he wasn't looking, Megumi stuck her tongue out. She clearly saw him.

“So, uh, what're your Loops like?” Gingka asked, trying to break the ice.

Megumi grinned. “Chaos at first, now more of a contained cluster of crazy.” At Stratea's glance, she amended, “We have Beyblade and mermaids and all sorts of stuff. Fun fact, I'm Tetsuya's twin!”

Gingka had been shocked enough to hear of someone else from a Beyblade Loop, but Tetsuya's twin? He didn't have a twin. ...Wait, did he?

“She doesn't exist in our base run,” Kenta assured him. “Apparently her base run's kinda like a big mushed up one that has different base runs mixed in, or...something.”

Megumi pointed over to Lucia and her friends. “Those three are from a mermaid Loop. And you guys are Beyblade!”

Gingka felt himself sighing, Megumi's antics reminding him of Yu. He could see why Kyoya was aggravated.

 

After a time of awkward silence – no one knew how to start a conversation – the door opened to reveal who they were waiting for.

“Go on over to your brother, Pesuth,” the brunette said to her companion. The other girl, pale and white-themed, shuffled over to the table, leaning into Stratea's waiting hug. After closing the door, the brunette smiled at everyone.

“Hey, I'm...well, it's my middle name, but call me Melodia,” she waved. “I know who you guys are, so uh, you don't have to get up or anything. I'm wondering about these Loops too so...so I'm just gonna sit down.”

She rushed over to Megumi's couch, plopping next to her and waving at the four siblings. Yona grinned back; Dinis smiled just slightly.

“And now we are all here,” the gray woman announced. “First off, I want to apologize for how long it took us to discover the Loops, and thus left you without answers. We understand that time is not something to be taken for granted, and you have spent a countless amount of it reliving the same experiences without end. Here, we will explain to you the cause of what you call 'Loops' and how we are attempting to bring them to a halt.”

Yona took over. “Basically, the universe is a _liiiittle_ bit broken.”

Melodia appeared to be biting the inside of her mouth in an attempt to stay quiet at that. Stratea cleared his throat. “What Yona means is that an event occurred that disrupted the flow of time within dimensions. Each of your dimensions had an area of time disconnected, becoming the duration of your 'Loops'. The event took attention away from most dimensions, thus explaining why we did not notice at first. When we did notice, we attempted to alert the proper authority, but the damage is too severe for a quick fix. That is why we are here, to assure you that this error is in no way going to remain unsolved forever.”

“The situation leading to the creation of the Loops is in no way easy to explain, and it is not a pretty tale, either,” Dinis continued. “We would now like to present to you two options. Do you want the full story, which is long and convoluted, or a simpler version?”

Gingka shared glances with his friends; Lucia's trio did the same. At this, Melodia suggested, “How about we do this by a show of hands?”

Considering this, Yona nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. Alright, hands up if you want the full mess of a story!”

Kyoya and Hippo were the only two that motioned in favor.

“...Well, that was easy. Everyone else, simpler version?” The raised hands reversed. “Okay, simpler version! We'll give you the full story another time.”

The purple-themed girl left her siblings to go to one of the empty walls. With a wave of her arms, a translucent lavender screen appeared, shimmering pleasantly. Another motion had it covering the wall completely. “For starters, the universe.” She made a large round motion with one arm, creating a circle that took up most of the screen. “Basically, this is the universe, a cluster of different dimensions and timelines. And these,” she made several smaller motions, causing many smaller circles to fill the first, “are those dimensions.

“Let's say these three are yours,” she continued, tapping three random circles, which began to glow. “And now we add timelines.” A single, swift strike of her arm filled every circle with vertical lines. “That's complicated, so we'll skip the details. Now we go here,” she tapped a fourth circle, “which is the source of the event. Essentially, this is what happened.”

As she lifted her finger, the circle darkened considerably. Lines formed between it and several other circles, including one of theirs. The darkened circle shook violently, then cracked apart, disappearing. Each connected circle was shaken in response, some having their vertical lines – timelines – cracked into pieces. Ripples went over the screen, sending similar cracks through other dimensions' timelines, which included the other two glowing circles.

“The massive amount of energy released destroyed the source dimension in the end, which sent ripples through the universe and affected all connected dimensions. Timelines are broken apart in all sorts of ways. The worst become frozen, unable to function. The best become a bit like a scratched disc, skipping back and forth. The Loops are in the middle, with the skips returning to the start after a certain point is reached.”

“This is the simple version?” Gingka heard someone mutter quietly. He had to agree – he wasn't sure he was getting all this.

Yona, apparently having heard that, stopped. “I'm sorry, I'm not used to talking so much. Tell me what you don't understand and I'll try to explain.”

“All of it,” Kenta admitted. At this, Melodia sighed.

“The source dimension is like a pinata,” she spoke up. “It cracked open, and candy of destruction spread through the universe, breaking timelines that it hit. Our dimensions were some of those.”

Yona smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, pretty much. Sorry...”

There was silence as the Loopers took this in. Melodia's simplified version of the simplified version helped things click – the pinata of doom broke timelines, which started skipping like scratched CDs.

Kyoya put in a few words. “So what caused this 'event' and how do we get out of this?”

Yona dismissed her screen and turned to face them. “Well, as basically as I can put it... The event was caused by misused magic on a humongous scale.”

“Magic?” Kenta repeated.

“Like what I just made that example out of, more or less.”

Lucia nodded. “And...who exactly is fixing it? You?”

“A number of people,” Dinis answered. “Our...father, his sister, and her...ahh, I'm not sure how her side of the family works, but essentially the gods of space and time are doing their duties as best as they can.”

Before anyone could question that, Melodia said, “Yes, there are gods of a sort, and many of them. Time, space, death, and creation are the basic four.”

Kyoya humphed. “You sure know a lot about this.”

Melodia glanced away, saying nothing in reply. Megumi leaned on her slightly, frowning.

“The gods in question are a legend of sorts in Melodia's dimension,” Stratea explained. “If she wishes to tell you further details, that is her decision to make for a later time.”

Dinis rose to her feet. “For now, we wish to bestow some gifts to you, to make your Looping lives even just slightly more bearable. Is everyone familiar with the concept of telepathy?”

Everyone nodded.

“Is everyone comfortable with learning how to use it?”

This question gained little response besides blank stares.

Stratea gave a slight smirk. “By no means will you be reading each others' minds – not without intense practice over several years. But telepathy can also be a means of greeting, or saying that one is present in the area. It can allow you to let your companions know that you have Awoken in the Loop, so long as you are within range of each other.”

“Kinda like a cell phone buzzing in your brain to say you have a text,” Megumi added. “Mel's really good at it, and it's super helpful since we tend to Awaken in different parts of the country.”

Yuuri raised her hand slightly. “So, I would be able to...to let Hippo-san know that I was Awake, even if I wasn't near him?”

The three teaching siblings nodded.

Kenta smiled. “That sounds like it would be a big help! Can you really teach us?”

Yona bounced a little. “Yup!”

“Second,” Stratea cut in, “we will teach you how to access a personal pocket of space, allowing you to carry things between Loops.”

Even Kyoya was attentive now. “We can do that?!” Gingka practically shouted.

“It's trickier than telepathy and will take longer to get a hold on, but yes!” Yona assured them.

“We could keep our Beys between Loops!” Kenta realized quickly. “I could get more practice in with Flash Sagitarrio!”

“I'd never have to say goodbye to Pegasus again!” Gingka agreed.

Kyoya's claim wasn't voiced, but a genuine smile had taken over his face, clearly thinking along the same lines as his companions.

Lucia was babbling something about a ring, while Yuuri seemed equally excited about a pendant of some sort. Megumi seemed to be fixated on getting a camera, while Melodia...appeared to be having a slight breakdown of sorts, staring with stunned eyes at the floor.

“Now,” Dinis's voice broke over the chatter, “we can only start you on one of those for now – this little Loop here is only two days long. But every so often we'll gather you all here to continue that training. Which would you like first?”

“Show of hands!” Yona added, remembering Melodia's earlier solution. “Telepathy?”

Yuuri, Hippo, and Kenta raised their hands – then realized quickly they were outnumbered. “Oh, darn,” Kenta mumbled.

Gingka smiled. “Don't worry about it, Kenta! Next time we can do that, okay? We always find each other pretty quick anyway!”

Melodia had come out of her daze and stood up. “I take it everyone's most comfortable outside, so we can move out there. That sound okay?”

Dinis nodded. “That sounds like an excellent plan.” She then turned to Stratea, who was still being held onto by a silent Pesuth. “Ahh...”

“Pesuth, will you teach them?” Yona asked politely. “You're super good at it.”

Pesuth glanced at her siblings, then slowly detached herself from her brother, nodding. When she saw Melodia's extended hand, she rushed over to take it. “I'll try,” she said softly.

“You'll do fine,” Melodia promised.

 

The group of Loopers, plus Pesuth, made their way outside, settling on the soft grass laid out around it. “Please sit however you are most comfortable,” the quiet girl instructed gently. “When you are ready, close your eyes.”

Once they were all situated, Pesuth led them through an easy meditation. When he tried to recall it later, Gingka found he could only remember the knapsack – floating beside him, waiting to hold whatever he wanted it to. For now, all that it held was a few white stones of varying sizes, just like everyone else, to practice with.

 

2.2

When they were allowed to open their eyes, Gingka found that he had Awakened in the B-Pit, just as Madoka was introducing herself.

Except it wasn't Madoka that he'd just handed Pegasus to.

“Megumi! The name's Megumi Watarigani!”

What?

Megumi it was indeed, as she turned around to place Pegasus in the usual analyzer. Gingka didn't move just yet, processing this. Sure, things had been different in Loops before, but... He had just _met_ Megumi. In that...weird Loop. Was that even a Loop?

“This is kinda weird,” he heard Kenta mutter, letting him know his friend was Awake. “That's her, right? The girl from...”

“Uh-huh.” Not sure how to handle a stranger with Pegasus – he'd been wary of Madoka in the base run, too – Gingka walked over to her.

The conversation went the same as usual – it was serious, there was debris, so on and so forth. Gingka offered to help with the maintenance, but Megumi declined the assistance, asking if he might be able to manage the store upstairs instead. Gingka agreed, familiar with the job probably more than Madoka was after so many Loops, and let her do her work. Kenta stayed downstairs to look around a bit, after getting Megumi's word that she'd look at Sagitarrio as well.

_It's so weird,_ Gingka thought idly as he flipped the smallest of his stones in and out of his new... knapsack dimension, he guessed. _I mean, sure, Madoka isn't always here. And there's plenty of times where she switches places with someone, too. But it's always been someone we know, like Benkei or Hikaru. If Megumi is here instead, is Madoka missing this Loop? Or, is she just somewhere else?_

There were few customers, letting Gingka think on things for the next few hours. He turned the last Loop over and over in his mind, wondering if just being there had...mixed everyone in somehow. Was it possible for them all to Awaken in each others' Loops now?

Then again, Megumi hadn't seemed to be Awake. Sure, she was more energetic and emotional about the state that Pegasus was in, but she gave no indication that she'd met them before.

Kenta joined him after the first hour, bringing with him a framed photo. “Gingka, look at this!”

Gingka turned once he'd finished closing the register and thanked the leaving customer. “What's up, Kenta?” At his friend's prompting, he took the picture. It was easy to see who it was – Megumi, looking a few years younger, with the brother she claimed to be twins with – Tetsuya. “What?!”

“It was in the spare bedroom. It looks like this Loop has her just like she said she is in her base run.” Kenta frowned slightly. “I tried to ask her about Tetsuya, but she just said they weren't in touch.”

Gingka handed the photo back, thinking on this. “I guess...things could get really interesting when he comes around,” he eventually answered.

 

When the two Bladers came in with their broken Beys about a week later, Megumi went completely off script.

“He said 'I'm gonna scratch your Beys just like my Mad Gasher'!”

“Mad Gasher?!” she repeated in disbelief. This quickly turned to anger. “So you've shown your face, then!”

With a growl, she ran outside. Not wanting to miss whatever was going to happen next, Gingka and Kenta hurried after her. She didn't even seen to notice that they'd done so, or at least didn't care.

Eventually the three stopped in an alley to catch their breath. “When I catch you,” Megumi huffed, “I'm gonna teach you a lesson, you crummy crab!”

“Megumi,” Kenta panted, “are you okay?”

“Do you know a guy with a Mad Gasher?” Gingka added, knowing the answer but playing his part.

“A ghost from my past,” she grumbled, “that's finally crawled his way to my haunt!”

Once she had her breath back, Megumi cupped her hands around her mouth. “Tetsuyaaaa! Show yourself, you stupid crab!”

Gingka recognized the laughter in the shadows. He whirled around, just as Kenta cried out in fear when he realized Tetsuya was standing right behind him.

Neither Blader had time to react further before Megumi let out a roar and tackled her brother to the ground. “You!!”

In the chaos of tumbling twins that followed, Tetsuya lost his cloak and Megumi's goggles went skittering away. Gingka tried to separate them, but stopped short when Megumi pulled a white stone from nowhere and shoved it against Tetsuya's chest.

**“Pesuth!”** she shouted with a force Gingka had never heard before. The stone shone brightly, then the shine transferred to surround the crab Blader, who stopped struggling. After a few seconds of silence, the glow faded, and Megumi's stone disappeared into the nothing it had come from. She sat up with a huff, putting a hand to her slightly bruised cheek. “Honestly, every time!”

“Uh, Megumi?!” Kenta stammered in shock. “What...just happened?!”

Gingka shook his head, realizing with a start, “You're Awake?!”

“Not now!” she shushed them, as Tetsuya slowly sat up. The antagonistic Blader looked around in confusion, and Megumi's tone went softer as she asked, “How do you feel?”

Tetsuya groaned. “Like a crab that....a crab that just....ugh, my head hurts...”

Megumi sighed. “Come on, you. We need to talk.” She stood up, then held her hand out to him. “I am not happy with what I've been hearing about you.”

Gingka and Kenta watched in bewilderment as the previously pissed off replacement mechanic helped her brother to her feet.

 

When Megumi had finished her talk with Tetsuya and left him to think in the spare bedroom, she got to work on finding new parts for the Beys that he'd broken, Gingka and Kenta trailing behind her as they waited for answers.

“For your question earlier,” she began suddenly, searching her collection of fusion wheels, “I Awoke just as we stopped to catch our breath. At that point I figured I may as well finish what I started, so I used a shortcut to get through to him.”

“One of the stones that Pesuth gave you?” Kenta asked.

Megumi nodded. “Right. Usually I can use a pure crystal, and let him recover slowly, but the stones had enough energy to...basically flood him with peace. Not that that's a good way to deal with someone, which is why I still had a sit down with him to make it stick. I hate seeing Tetsuya that way and I like to deal with it as soon as possible.”

Gingka frowned, not following. “The stones have...energy?”

“Later, okay? One thing at a time.” Megumi found a matching fusion wheel for one of the Beys and slipped it into the pocket of her work apron, then continued to look for the second. “Tetsuya's going to be staying here. I just want you to know the full story about what happened to him, because I don't think you ever really heard it.”

The two Bladers exchanged glances. “I guess not,” Kenta admitted. “That's been a total constant in the Loops...”

Megumi sighed, pausing in her search. “It happened a few years ago. Tetsuya was battling with his best friend, Echizen, the best Blader in our village. This big guy, Taraba, came looking for him – Echizen – for a battle, because of that title. But Echizen freaked out, so Tetsuya claimed it was him, wanting to protect him. During that battle... Echizen ran away.”

She clenched her fist slightly, before dropping her arms to her side. “Tetsuya lost the battle only to discover that. Mad Gasher was given the damage you see today. And upon these discoveries...my brother's heart was crushed. He started down the path that led him here, gaining vengeance on both Taraba and Echizen after disappearing for months to train. And I...wasn't there for him like I should've been.”

“So that's why...he never listened,” Kenta said softly. “He was hurt so badly...”

“I had no idea,” Gingka agreed. “Megumi...thank you. Knowing what happened is something we needed to hear. I hope we'll be able to put that knowledge to use in the future.”

Megumi smiled a little. “That would mean a lot to me. I only ever Awaken around the time the Star Fragment hits the Beys of the Legendary Bladers, so at that point...he's already been hurting for years.”

“But how'd you do it?” Kenta asked again. “You used...one of your stones?”

“That's...harder to explain. Mel's lot more experienced with that stuff even with all our Loops. Let me put my thoughts together and I'll try to explain while I fix these Beys, okay?”

The boys nodded, and let Megumi go back to parts searching. They retreated to the couch to wait, bringing out a few of their own stones to stare at and wonder about.

 

Megumi called them over to her work table some time later. Not taking her eyes off her maintenance work, she started explaining, as promised.

“Pesuth and her siblings are spirits. They each use a different type of magic related to the trait they represent. Pesuth is peace. Their magic works with certain crystals and stones, collecting and channeling that magic into the world and people. So, the stones that she gave us each have peaceful energy within them. It's not a lot, since they're not as stable as the crystals, but she's not the type to let people go into something like the Loops without a way to keep calm.”

Gingka nodded. “So...you used that peaceful energy to...help Tetsuya?”

“Uh-huh. Usually I use a mix of talking, singing, and crystals, but my Loop memories had me so angry that talking wasn't going to do anything for either of us.” She paused to closer inspect the part she was cleaning. “Singing wouldn't work here, since that magic doesn't exist in your Loops, so all I had left was the stones.”

Kenta let out a hum of uncertainty. “They didn't look like ghosts...”

Megumi looked up for a moment, smiling. “They're not ghosts, Kenta. They're...they're like clouds of energy, each controlling a certain aspect of personality. They took human forms so you guys, who don't know about them, wouldn't freak out.”

“So they're...from your base run?”

“Hmm...they're not limited to a single timeline like our minds are. I don't know how to explain that part, Mel doesn't talk about it. She's the one who uses that magic.”

Letting this sink in, Gingka and Kenta went quiet. It wasn't that hard to accept the idea of spirits – so many Loops with Beyblades and Nemesis kind of solidified that belief. Spirits that could take human forms, that was alright. What Gingka couldn't grasp was what they apparently did.

Making his choice, Gingka asked, “Do you know if Melodia is in this Loop?”

Megumi clicked her tongue, frowning as she worked. “I don't have any Loop memories of her, but that doesn't mean she's not here. If she's Awake, I'm sure she'll let us know when she can.”

After a moment, Gingka nodded. “Then we'll wait. If she knows this stuff so well, I want to know more.”

“I agree!” Kenta declared.

Their replacement mechanic chuckled. “I don't think she'd have a problem with that.”

 

“Where's Masamune?” Megumi asked, as she and her fellow Loopers watched the battle that he usually interrupted.

Gingka shook his head. “Dunno. He's never not been here, except when it's Zeo instead.”

“I wonder what this'll mean for Gan Gan Galaxy. Would Yu become a regular member?”

Kenta grinned. “Hey, maybe I'll get to be on the team this time!”

Kenta's prediction was correct. Gan Gan Galaxy included Gingka, Tsubasa, Yu, himself as the sub, and Megumi as support. Kyoya was still Sleeping, so they had to deal with that, but the swift and early defeat of Ryuga meant Tsubasa was unharmed by the dark powers, and Hikaru was still battling strong. (Oddly, this was where Madoka made her appearance, as Ryou's new assistant.)

China went by in a flash, as did Russia with Megumi not falling for Aleksei's reluctant scheming, and they skipped Europe entirely knowing what would happen if they tried to see the Festival of Warriors. Going against Wild Fang was somehow the same as every other time – Gingka and Kyoya still tied, to the ginger's disbelief. Really, the only big changes started when they arrived in Brazil.

Tetsuya – quiet and reserved as he'd been since Megumi took him in – arrived to meet them, bringing the CD showing Team Garcia vs Team Layat, a name that Megumi had been suspicious of ever since first hearing it. As always, the first two matches were quick and dull, Argo winning his and Selen losing hers. Being spared the problem of Yu running off – being a regular this Loop, he wasn't missing any battles – the full team watched the third round, the Loopers wondering if it would show Zeo or Masamune as always.

Ian's opponent was neither of those.

“Oh my ghouls she didn't!” Megumi gasped.

“...Toby Wallace!”

 

“How in the world is Toby on the US team?!” Gingka demanded later, when he, Kenta and Megumi had gone to a separate room to talk. “That's never happened! Toby always gets sick and always becomes Faust, there's no variants in that!”

“We could never change it,” Kenta added, “we just didn't have any clues on how to stop that from happening. It's been constant in every Loop we've ever had!”

Megumi removed her hands from her face, sighing. “Melodia, no doubt. I bet she's been in America this whole time.”

“Huh?!”

“See, Mel and I trained in Dungeon Gym, with Masamune and the others,” Megumi explained. “I bet she went there as soon as she could, and used her magic to either heal Toby, or stop him from getting sick in the first place. She's been working on healing magic more than any other kind ever since the Loops started, to try and stop a lot of different messes from injuries to possession. Of _course_ she went to heal Toby! I'm such an idiot!”

Gingka caught Megumi's hand before she started flailing. “Hang on, I'm not sure I get it. Toby's illness has always been incurable, how would healing magic change that?”

Megumi shook her head. “Variables. In our Alpha – our base run, as you would call it – Toby wasn't sick by normal means. He used too much magic, and the doctors wouldn't believe that, so he didn't get better. The real reason the Arrangement worked on him was because it refilled his energy.” She pulled her hand out of Gingka's grasp. “But it isn't always like that. In some Loops, he really does get that kind of illness. We always Awaken long after that's over, so Melodia gathers up all the data she can from Ziggurat's systems, to find Toby's symptoms and all. Just for the off chance that we Awoke early enough to help.”

“But you never did?” Gingka guessed. Megumi shook her head once more.

“It makes sense that after this long, she'd have figured something out. She probably stopped Hades Inc. altogether while she was at it.”

“So...” Kenta tried to figure out what this meant. “Are we gonna have a fair final battle? No Spiral Force or crazy Bladers?”

“I guess so.”

Gingka let out a cheer. “Finally!”

Seeing Megumi was not as thrilled, Kenta asked, “Is something wrong?”

Megumi just sighed. “I...I hope not.”

 

Upon touching down in New York City, the first thing that Gan Gan Galaxy did was follow Megumi through the streets towards Dungeon Gym.

“You lived here for a while, is that right?” Tsubasa asked as they walked.

Megumi nodded. “That's right! Toby, the Blader we saw in Team Layat, is a friend of mine. So I want to see how he and everyone else is doing!”

It was both a cover story, and the truth. She really had lived in New York for about a year, and trained at Dungeon Gym, in this Loop's past. This gave her the perfect excuse to stop by and see if Melodia was really there.

“I'm back, you ghostly ghouls!” Megumi shouted as she pushed open the doors to the gym. “Megumi is here to haunt!”

They were surrounded by the Bladers currently there, everyone greeting Megumi and excited to meet Gingka and his friends – just like always.

“What's all this hooplah about?” came the voice of Coach Steel as he approached. “Ey! Well rub my shiny head.”

“Coach Steel!” Megumi beamed.

The Coach smiled. “Well it's been quite a while, Megumi!”

Megumi turned to the team. “This is Coach Steel, the owner and trainer of the gym!” Then, not missing a beat, she turned back to the man. “First things first! Where are Toby and the others?”

“Toby, huh? Well he, Zeo, and Masamune got real attached with a couple of new members that showed up about a year back. I think you'll find them in that old lot you guys used to practice in.”

The girl pressed, “New members? What're their names?”

“Ah, Chris and Melodia.”

While Megumi silently cheered on her luck, Gingka and Kenta exchanged startled glances, wondering if 'Chris' was the same Blader-for-hire that joined them as a Legendary Blader.

“We'll be back to talk and stuff after we go see them!” Megumi promised before racing back out the door. Caught off guard, Gan Gan Galaxy hurried to follow.

With Megumi's speedy lead, the team was at the lot in no time. Just like Coach Steel had said, the Bladers they sought were gathered there – Toby, Masamune, Zeo, Melodia, and Chris.

_It really is him!_ Gingka thought in amazement, even while Megumi let out a gasp.

“Oh my ghouls! Mel, what happened?!”

It was then that Gingka realized Melodia was in a wheelchair.

Startled but happy greetings from Megumi's in-Loop friends were ignored as the greenette raced over to Melodia. “Are you okay? What – when – how-?!”

“M-Meg, calm down!” Melodia urged, grabbing her friends arms. “I'm okay, I swear! I just have trouble walking, I can handle it!”

Megumi pulled the brunette into a tight hug, while everyone else looked on in wonder. “I didn't know they knew each other,” Zeo commented.

“Hey!” Masamune quickly turned to Gingka. “You guys are the Japan representatives, right?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah that's us!” Gingka pulled his attention away from the visiting Loopers. “I'm Gingka, Gingka Hagane!”

The other members introduced themselves readily, with Tetsuya being greeted cheerfully as the New Yorkers learned he was Megumi's brother. Introductions from the other side were quick as well – and apparently, each of them was a member of the US team.

“Chris, Toby and I are the regulars,” Masamune explained, “and Zeo's our sub. Melodia's our support member, fixing up our Beys and keeping us in line!”

Yu pushed his way into the conversation. “Hey so tell us! What was up with what happened in your battle against Team Garcia? Huh? Tell us what that was all about!”

Toby chuckled awkwardly. “Our Beys got pretty banged up in the battle before that, so Melodia had us using substitution Beys. The Garcias came to talk to us and we agreed on what it was you saw, so that we'd all have our Beys good and ready for the finals.”

Zeo laughed nervously. “Melodia wasn't too happy, though... We kinda made the decision without her.”

“And we felt pretty cheated once we saw what happened when you went up against them,” Chris added. “They really tried to pull a fast one with that knockout thing, huh?”

Tsubasa smiled. “It's alright, we made it through.”

“Not without some heavy damage to your Beys. Why don't you let Melodia help out with the repairs? She's as good as Coach Steel, if not better!”

Masamune cut in quickly, “Don't tell him we said that!”

“Hey, guys?”

The Bladers turned as Megumi rejoined them, looking nervous. “Uh, Mel was wondering if she could have a talk with me, Gingka, and Toby. Is that okay with everyone?”

Toby and Gingka exchanged quick gazes. “Sure, that's fine,” the American Blader agreed. Gingka nodded as well.

The four left the lot, Melodia leading them towards the trees nearby. When they were safely out of earshot, she turned herself around to face them. “Nice to see you again, Gingka. I was pretty excited when I heard you beat Ryuga early on. Seeing him like that's no fun at all.”

“You should've heard her squeal,” Toby added with a grin.

Gingka blinked. “Huh? What, do you mean that you and Ryuga...”

“We know each other, yeah. Or, we at least do in my dimension.”

“Your-” Gingka quickly turned to Toby. “Wait, are you-”

Toby shook his head. “I'm not doing that time loop thing like you guys are, no, but Melodia did explain it to me. Her method of healing me kinda poked around in my head, and I keep seeing things from the...Alpha timeline?”

Megumi fixed Melodia with a half-hearted glare. “And that's why he's here for this talk. Mel doesn't know if this'll persist through the Loops, or if it's a one-run thing.” Melodia ducked her head awkwardly, and her friend sighed. “Point is, we want to give you guys a quick run-down on what she did. For Gingka, because he asked me for answers earlier, and for Toby because he was directly affected.”

Gingka nodded after a moment of thought. “Okay, so...you healed Toby. With your magic?”

Melodia laughed awkwardly. “Sort of... To put it bluntly, I kinda tore through some space-time and accessed energy I had at the end of my Alpha, and shoved it into him to block off his illness. Except I used a little too much, and...” She gestured to her wheelchair, “Now I don't have a lot of physical energy for myself. I can walk, but I get tired pretty fast, and unfortunately that takes Beyblade off the menu.”

“That's what happens when you break dimensional barriers!” Megumi scolded. “There's no way you'll be pulling this off every time! I thought you learned your lesson in the Alpha!”

“Hey, you know how much of a mess I was back then, and you weren't much better!”

“Shush your face!”

The boys sighed, turning away to let the girls continue their banter. “So, what...Alpha, do you remember?” Gingka decided to ask. “Were they in it, or...?”

“No, Melodia said it's yours.” Toby shook his head. “I think the only reason I'm believing any of this is the mixed up memories. And I'm trying not to focus on those.”

Gingka smiled. “On the bright side, you get to be in the tournament! How's that been?”

“Ah, we've had some tough opponents, but nothing we couldn't handle.” Toby winced as Melodia shouted something in – what was that, Chinese? “It's been a lot of fun, really. We're looking forward to the final battle.”

“Same here! It'll be great to have some different opponents for once!”

Toby smiled, starting to reply, when they were both distracted by a rattling noise behind them. Turning around revealed that Melodia was shaking her wheelchair as hard as she could, while still in it, and looking severely frustrated.

Megumi waited until she was done before asking, “Out of your system now?”

Melodia huffed, looking sadly at her feet. “No.”

“You wanna sing it out?”

“...Yes.”

The greenette nodded, stepping back. “Mel's gonna sing us something,” she told the boys. “It's the easiest way for us to calm down. Alpha stuff.”

Gingka nodded, remembering several musical Loops. “Hey, better than turning evil out of anger, right?”

The girls both gave him a confused look, and he admitted, “I've had a few dark Loops when the situation got to me.”

“L-Drago?” Megumi guessed.

“L-Drago,” he agreed sheepishly.

Melodia smiled slightly, then glanced at Toby. “You can go back to the others now, if you want...”

Toby returned the smile. “Loops or not, you're my friend here and now. Besides, I'm curious to hear the singing voice that can knock Masamune and Chris out for a night.”

“She's not supposed to do that,” Megumi smirked, getting lightly slapped in response. “Hey, hey, just sing already, you!”

The female brunette sighed, closing her eyes for a few seconds. When she began to sing, Gingka felt himself thrown back into the musical Loops – he swore there was music accompanying her.

_“I hate to see a place_  
_So plain like this_  
_Everything feels turned around_  
_Even though it's my hometown”_

_“Kept off of my feet_  
_It's the hand that I was dealt_  
_But I never had this time with them_  
_Got to see all that I can”_

Megumi put a hand on the boys' shoulders, giving them reassuring smiles. Without words, Gingka got her message – Melodia would be alright.

_"They don't have any magic, no fairies without wings_  
_I know how this always goes but I'll admit I feel exposed_  
_Everything's confusing when it seems so new_  
_But I hardly have to look closer to know it feels familiar too"_

Then, rejoining Melodia, Megumi joined her for the last bit of the song.

_"What a strange new world_  
_I'm trying to make heads or tails of this strange new world_  
_Sorting through the small details of this strange new world_  
_What a strange new world"_

 

Gingka vowed to make more of an effort to sing in the next musical Loop.

 

2.3

So far, the Loop had been normal. Cut off Ryuga and Doji quickly, check. Awake Kyoya, Sleeping Kenta, fine. Trip to Koma Village, in progress.

“You really think your dad survived?” Kenta asked. The group was on the train towards Koma Village, and Gingka had just finished telling them all his story. In response to Kenta's question, the blue Blader nodded.

“I have confidence, Kenta. And though we may not see him there at first, he'll meet us at some point.”

Benkei shook his head. “I just don't know what to think, Gingka! If your dad is alive, why wouldn't he tell you so?”

In truth, Gingka didn't have a solid answer to that. He'd never been able to understand his father's motives, even after all this time, after asking him over and over. “Something about...making me stronger, I guess.”

The conversation moved to idle chatter until they reached the station, and then Gingka became their guide up the mountain. He was excited to go home – Hyoma and his father would be there, and he always liked seeing their pride and relief when he told him he had defeated L-Drago.

His Loop memories also told him that two others would be there. After Megumi and Melodia's visit a few Loops back, Gingka wanted to make sure that his current guests were enjoying themselves.

When Kyoya noticed Hyoma watching them from the trees, Gingka called out to him. They made quick introductions, Gingka keeping his victory a secret for the time being. As always, it took a bit of convincing, but Hyoma allowed Gingka's friends to visit the village, and their journey continued.

“Who are you?!” came the demand of a hidden voice once they had entered the village. Gingka noted that it wasn't Hokuto – actually, it was definitely a girl's voice, oddly echoing with a strong sense of command. “This is a forbidden place that only those given permission may enter. Outsiders must leave at once! Leave! Leave now!”

Gingka sighed as his Sleeping friends – minus Hyoma – grew wary. “Wh-Who's there?” Madoka stammered.

“You should leave at once! Or else...”

From the usual rooftop came the usual scary eyes. “You will regret it!” the voice finished angrily.

Already tired of this, Kyoya ordered, “Show yourself! Right now!”

Hyoma scratched his head, commenting, “Hey, no need for threats, you guys.”

The sun came out from behind the clouds, revealing not Hokuto, but a dog with golden fur, bright green eyes, and a red headband. Beside him stood a blond girl in pink and red. Both leaped down to stand before the group, the girl demanding, “Why did you bring outsiders here, Hyoma?”

“This is Lucia,” Gingka explained to the others cheerfully, “and her dog, Hippo. They're my childhood friends, just like Hyoma!”

“That's beside the point!” Lucia snapped. “What's more important, Gingka, is that you seem to have forgotten what happened the last time outsiders came here! Is your memory that short?”

Gingka chuckled. “Aw, come on, these guys aren't bad! They're my friends, Lucia! They've helped me a lot, and I brought them a long way just to meet you guys!”

While Lucia frowned in disappointment, Hippo the dog stepped forward, eyeing Gingka carefully. The ginger reached into his pocket, using it as a way to hide his hand in order to take one of the stones from his 'knapsack', and held it by his side. After a moment, Hippo nodded – the transformed penguin was Awake.

_Too bad he can't speak here,_ Gingka thought as he slipped the stone back to its home. _I guess that's why Lucia is here... Though she doesn't seem to be Awake._

“Lucia,” he began, turning serious, “I have a request. I need you to take us to my father.”

The girl's eyes widened. Gingka stepped forward, continuing, “I know that he survived. I need to see him right away!”

“Gingka,” Hyoma started, only for his friend to turn around. He went silent, understanding that the Pegasus Blader was serious in his belief.

After a brief silence, Lucia's eyes softened. “How did you know?”

Gingka put a fist to his chest. “I felt it in my spirit. My father would not be killed so easily.”

As Lucia sighed, Hyoma gasped, “But no one could find him! How is this possible?”

“Gingka's father asked that I keep it a secret, that Hippo and I found him. He believed it would be better for Gingka's mission if the Dark Nebula believed he was dead.” Lucia looked away. “I don't understand...why it is that he didn't tell Gingka.”

“Dad doesn't have to worry about that now. But I need you to take me to him, Lucia. It's very important.”

Lucia nodded. “Alright... I will. There's just no stopping you, Gingka. But he's staying outside the village, so it will take time for us to get there. You've come a long way, so please rest for a while.”

 

The look on Ryo's face was one Gingka had seen in almost every Loop – pure shock at his son's arrival. Before he could apologize to his son, however, Gingka told him of his victory.

They returned to the village with Ryo, calling to the villagers that had been hidden inside their houses upon their initial arrival. With the excitement of Gingka's victory, it didn't take long for everyone to gather in celebration. And there were many things to celebrate: Ryo was alive, Gingka had returned, L-Drago was defeated. By evening, a festival was in full swing.

Gingka let his friends wander and take in the sights while he sat with his father. They had the same talk they did every time Gingka won early – apologies and explanations from Ryo, and pride about his friends' support from Gingka.

Before long, Hyoma and Lucia pulled him away, and Gingka was more than happy to spend some time with his childhood friends. Their challenges didn't surprise him; he defeated Hyoma first before facing Lucia.

It seemed that Lucia used a Ray Aquario, and she was very good with it. It took more effort to beat her than it did Hyoma, though she seemed momentarily out of it near the end. While Hyoma battled someone else, she approached the Pegasus Blader with uncertainty.

“Um, Gingka,” she started, then paused. After a moment she restarted, smiling sheepishly, “You really threw me around in there! It was like a big wake up call.”

It was Gingka's turn to pause. Something about the way she said...

He grinned in realization. “Even feeling loopy, you were pretty great yourself!”

Lucia beamed. “Thanks!”

“C'mon, Hippo's probably been waiting for you. He makes a pretty good dog!”

“Ehhh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melodia's song is a parody of "A Strange New World" from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Equestria Girls


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's baaaaaack
> 
> I added a couple more fandom worlds this time, and also conflict happened kind of by accident, whoops

3.1

“I don't like it.”

“You don't like a lot of things, Kyoya. You're gonna have to be more specific.”

Kyoya growled, lowering his crystal screen. “This! What the hell are we doing this for?!”

Gingka sighed, looking away from his own. “Pesuth offered this world as a place to rest between Loops. You and I have lived out in the wilderness more than any of the others, so she asked us to make sure the place was...y'know, safe.”

“It's nothing but grass, rocks, and sand.”

“There are some trees!”

Gingka shrugged off his companion's glare, turning back to his screen in order to add a tally to the number of trees they'd seen. “They're trying to fix this, Kyoya. But we gotta help out too when we can.”

When Kyoya grunted in reply, Gingka let it go. He agreed it was...weird, talking to supposed spirits and exploring a world still being made. Not to mention all the other Loopers...

_I guess I've been doing this for so long, I've just...gotten used to it,_ Gingka thought. _Time loops, people from other worlds... It's crazy, but it's all we have._

The two worked in silence for a while. Pesuth had asked them to check a number of worries she had – the stability of the ground, the environment, what kinds of food resources she should use... Gingka was surprised at just how seriously she was taking this.

Then again, all the spirits were taking this seriously. They'd each assigned themselves to their own set of Loops, promising to keep each group updated as they talked to the 'gods of time and space'. Megumi called them 'Dialga' and 'Palkia' respectively, and then there were two called 'Arceus' and 'Mew' that just looked over everything and could do both jobs if they needed – the 'creation' gods. There was that god of the dead she mentioned once or twice, too.

And the spirits had that father of theirs. Melodia said he was known as 'Ventry', and he was the 'Lord of Spirit' or something. Gingka guessed that made sense, with his kids being spirits and all. And he had a sister, too – he hadn't really heard anything about her, but apparently she was helping as well.

The spirits themselves... Gingka had sat down with Melodia once to learn about them, since she seemed to know so much. Not that she told him a lot – she had a lot of hesitation in sharing her knowledge. Just about all she said was along the lines of what Megumi knew – which, in the end, wasn't a lot.

Yona, the light purple one, was apparently associated with the concept of wonder. Stratea, the green guy, was connected to strategy, and Dinis was dignity. Pesuth, like Gingka already knew, was peace. Each could produce stones and crystals with the energy they held, but only Yona and Pesuth were willing to share such items, giving a few to each Looper.

Gingka wasn't quite sure how he felt about the spirit siblings. They seemed trustworthy, just...secretive.

Shaking his head, Gingka sighed. _Whatever. Let's just see if we can spot that second island Pesuth said was here._

 

3.2

“This is a new one,” Kenta commented as he and Gingka watched Madoka work on Pegasus.

“Yuh-huh,” Gingka agreed. “I'm a little worried about this Loop.”

Kenta nodded, watching the mechanic mutter about how much he – yes, he – was going to slap Gingka silly for all the damage he'd allowed happen to his Bey. “On the bright side, I bet the other-worlders will like to hear about this.”

Gingka hmmed. “We really need to figure out what to call each other, don't we? 'Other-worlders' sounds like we're calling Lucia and the others aliens.”

“Don't just stand there!” Madoka hollered suddenly, turning his gaze towards the two. “If you've got nothing better to do, either help out or get out!”

The two Bladers jumped a bit. “Yes sir!”

 

3.3

“Ryuga. I'm surprised to see you again. You're not still mad at me, are you?”

Gingka Awoke on the roof of the Dark Nebula, sneering down at a furious Ryuga. Accompanied by Madoka, Kyoya, Yu, and Tsubasa. His father stood nearby, a wicked grin on his face.

_Wait, what?_

He missed Ryuga's reply as he took note of everyone's appearances. Ryuga had a familiar white scarf, Tsubasa had the image of a bull's head on his shirt, and Madoka and Kyoya seemed to have switched to some degree?

The memories kicked in then. “Oh I am _not_ going through with this.”

Ignoring the confused words of his father, Gingka jumped down to the other Bladers. He struggled for a moment against the anger of Lightning L-Drago, but after having faced the direct power of the dark Bey in Loops before, he managed to shake it off for the time being.

“I'm not going to do this,” he said again, meeting Ryuga's gaze. “I won't follow my father's plans.”

A shot of the dark power tore through him again and he stumbled, grabbing at his chest. His eyes went wide in pain. _I have to focus. I have to fight it. Just for now. I have to believe in Ryuga, that he'll do for me what I've done for him!_

“Help me,” Gingka pleaded. “Defeat L-Drago. Please.”

 

3.4

“Reverse Saga!” Melodia cried out when Gingka told of his strange, backwards Loop. All but Megumi gave her odd looks.

“Uh, Reverse Saga, like...everything's reversed,” the brunette explained sheepishly, sitting back down in the grass with a bit of red on her face. “It's uh...It was a research project, kind of, a little. A really long time ago. Before the Loops.”

“Mel had a lot of weird projects,” Megumi nodded, fiddling with a crab shaped pillow she'd been trying to make for Tetsuya for a few Loops. “Trust me, you don't wanna know half of 'em.”

Gingka contemplated the outburst all the same. “Reverse Saga, huh? That sounds about right, I guess.”

Kenta looked down at Flash Sagitarrio. “So Yu and I switched places, huh? He became a Legendary Blader instead of me.”

Lucia giggled. “It's a little funny to picture Tsubasa-san in the place of Benkei-san.”

“B-Bu-Bu-Bull!” Yuuri shouted, her hands against her head in Benkei's usual bull-horns gesture. Hippo – in his human form during their visit to Pesuth's world – began laughing at the spectacle.

“I bet Amaya would've loved it,” Megumi said idly, undoing yet more stitches in the fabric. “Or...maybe not, she would've probably been in Doji's place...who was in Ryo's place..who was in Doji's place...” She shook her head, stopping the cycle before it pulled her in further.

Kenta looked up from his Bey. “Amaya? Is she someone from your base run?”

Megumi started to nod, then paused abruptly and turned to Melodia. “Are...we allowed to talk about that?”

Melodia sighed. “They've already had Kakeru in several Loops...I guess it wouldn't hurt.” She faced the Bladers, biting her cheek awkwardly before confessing, “Amaya is...she's Ryuga's sister. In our timeline, anyway.”

Gingka's jaw dropped. “His sister?”

“Yeah, a lot of you have siblings in our timeline,” Megumi confirmed. “Ryuga has Amaya, Tetsuya has me, Kyoya has Kakeru and-”

“Let's not overload them, Meg,” Melodia interrupted. “It's their business if they want to know.”

Kyoya grunted. “Well maybe I do. It's not like you ever offer the information to begin with. It's like you don't _want_ us to know anything about your base run! Hell, you clearly know more about things than you're letting on, and you don't tell us anything! How do we even know we can trust you if you're willing to withhold information that important?”

A silence fell over the group for a moment, brought on by nothing more than the injured look on Melodia's face and Kyoya's sharp glare. Megumi frowned, dropping her project and standing up, walking to the tree that Kyoya was leaning on and staring up at him with anger in her eyes.

“How _dare_ you,” she growled. “Why don't you sit down and think for a minute, huh? You know how bad your timeline was? You got shot in the gut by a Dark Move, faced the destruction of the world _twice_ and the _death_ of a comrade? Oh, not that you saw Ryuga as a comrade, sorry! You just don't like _anyone!”_

“Meg-” Melodia tried to stop her friend, but Megumi hushed her with a wave of her arm.

“Lucia and her friends faced a tyrant who wanted to end the human race and rule the seas, and the resurrected spirit of a being who wanted to _absorb_ them into his own power! They tried to befriend a girl who ended up sacrificing herself to that being in her misery! You know that, you've been in that Loop several times! I know, I've been there with you!” Megumi scowled. “So maybe, _just_ maybe, you can think for a second and realize that _maybe_ we have a _really bad timeline_ and _don't like talking about it!”_

Kyoya's glare increased, and he moved to push her aside. Before he could, a voice shouted forcefully, **“Gura!”**

A flash of purple formed into a translucent wall between him and Megumi, then shoved him back. Megumi whirled around, as did the others, to find Melodia with her arm outstretched, a matching purple aura around her hand.

“I am _so sick_ of your attitude, Kyoya,” she spat. “Doesn't matter where or when. You love to put me down. You love to prove you're 'better'. Well, you want some info about our world? How 'bout this?” Her eyes flashed dangerously. “I don't just help save the planet, _I help save the multiverse.”_

Melodia stood, and as her hand fell, so did the wall. With angry silence, she turned around and left the group. Moments later, Megumi retrieved her pillow and followed.

“You shouldn't have pushed them, Kyoya,” Gingka said when the two girls were gone. “You know they have bits of our worlds in theirs. When they visit us, they're seeing just one part of their home, one part of the friends that aren't Looping. We get the full picture. They don't.”

Yuuri nodded. “We all have hard experiences in our home worlds. We can't expect everyone to have recovered from them...whatever they might be.”

Kyoya huffed, but otherwise didn't reply. Gingka sighed. _I know he'll understand someday. He's just too stubborn to admit he can be wrong._

 

3.5

“So mermaids exist in this Loop,” Gingka asked his mermaid friend for clarification. For the third time.

Lucia sighed. “Yes, we do. Luckily the 'tell and you die' rule doesn't exist, but it's still difficult.”

“Mermaids _and_ mermen,” he checked. Lucia's home Loop seemed to have a 90% chance of merfolk being a full female species.

“Yes.”

“And some of them went rogue and are now our enemies.”

“From what I understand about your world? Yes.”

Gingka flopped forwards against the railing, groaning. “Hoh boy. So can I assume that Doji is one of those rogue merfolk?”

Lucia nodded, then frowned into the water. “Well, he's actually a human sea serpent hybrid...”

“What about Dr. Ziggurat?”

“Dr. Ziggurat is half human, half freshwater. But he's infamous for starting his twisted experiments on merfolk and humans alike.” Lucia shuddered. “Poor Sara...”

Gingka scowled, remembering Sara from Lucia's Loops. _I wonder if she'll Wake Up one day? Finally end the destructive cycle of that Loop..._ “And...Rago?”

“I'm...not sure. I haven't heard his name anywhere.”

He sighed. “Well, I'll go through in my usual speed run, I guess. I don't suppose your magic pearl can heal Toby?” Lucia shook her head. “You wanna come along anyway?”

The mermaid smiled. “Sure!”

\----------

“So, uh, just checking, that's Kaito, right? Your boyfriend?”

Lucia nodded, watching Masamune reminisce with the boy replacing the usual brunette in the hospital. She seemed tense, but Gingka could understand why. He put a hand on her shoulder.

“We'll find a way to stop that Arrangement one day,” he promised. “I'm sorry it can't be this time.”

Lucia sighed. “I just hope that he'll Wake Up one day...”

\----------

“I guess it makes sense that his 'Faust' was him just turning into his brother.”

“I guess...”

“...Probably good that Yuuri isn't here this time, huh?”

“...Yeah.”

\----------

“Um, Lucia?”

“What?”

“Remember how I asked about Rago when the Loop started?”

“Yes...”

“Why a _half-human hydra?!”_

“The dragon?”

“No, the popcorn maker! _Yes the dragon!”_

 

3.6

“So this is something from your home time?” Gingka asked Melodia with uncertainty. “The castle, the training, the...”

“Giant robot lions, yes.” Melodia chuckled as she fiddled with a tech watch-armband....thing she called a 'Voltcom'. “Can't believe your Loop memories?”

“Not even slightly.”

Melodia grinned. “Well, this was a big part of my life. My brother is one of the pilots. We're here as cadets, in order to learn how to pilot the Voltron Lions, in the peaceful time following the defeat of Prince Lotor of the planet Drule.”

“Uh-”

“Please don't make the joke, Meg does it literally every time I mention the name.”

“...Right.” Gingka looked around the bedroom they sat in – his, that he shared with Kyoya. “So, uh, is driving a Lion anything like driving a car...?”

Melodia dropped her tools almost instantly. “Pilot, we pilot them because they are spaceships. It's nothing like driving a car. We're going in the simulators right now.”

Gingka had the sinking feeling he'd just touched a nerve.

 

“Have fun sparring with Larmina?”

“Shut up.”

“I told you she was a warrior in training.”

“Shut up.”

“I tried to give you a staff to use!”

“Shut up!”

“Don't feel bad, even Mel loses to her sometimes.”

From his spot on the floor, Kyoya growled at the offending blond. “You're even more annoying than usual right now, you know that?”

Megan grinned. “It's so much fun having home field advantage!” she replied cheerily. “By the way, you look wonderful with black hair!”

“In our next Beyblade loop I'm destroying you in battle.”

 

3.7

“Is it just me, or has Madoka been acting strange since we got to Koma Village?”

Kyoya looked over at Gingka, who was polishing up Pegasus a few feet away. “What do you mean?”

Gingka nodded slightly to the side, a point of sorts. Kyoya glanced in that direction, pausing as he noticed Madoka sitting there and pretending not to notice them – quite badly, at that. “Pretty sure it's just about me.” Kyoya frowned. At this point in every Loop, Madoka was still wary of him to at least some degree.

“I dunno... If it was just about you, then why would she be stalking Kenta too?”

That got a raised eyebrow. “Did he do anything stupid?”

“Why is that always your first question?”

Kyoya grunted as his only response, watching Madoka from the corner of his eye. As she didn't notice him, she was watching him with suspicion – Gingka too, it seemed. “Whatever. I'm sure she'll get over it.”

Gingka wasn't so sure. “I hope so...”

“Any news on your dad taking over the WBBA yet?”

“We both know you have no interest in that and just want Battle Bladers without the Dark Nebula screwing it up.”

Kyoya just smirked.

 

“Now Benkei's doing it too,” Kenta complained.

Gingka looked over to the Blader in question, jumping slightly as he realized Benkei's solid gaze didn't waver upon eye contact. After a few tense seconds, Gingka blinked and turned back to Kenta. “Okay, did something happen that I missed, or...?”

“Everything's been the same as usual, I think! I mean, our beat-Ryuga-fast usual...” Kenta frowned, trying to think of a way to explain their friends' odd behavior. “You, me, and Kyoya have all been doing the same things as always...haven't we?”

The two watched silently as Madoka suddenly grabbed Benkei and whisked him away, much to his startled complaint. “You don't think this is another one of those Loops where Madoka has a crush on someone, do you?”

“...Maybe?” Kenta wasn't very fond of those loops...well, okay, they were pretty funny when it wasn't directed at a slightly older him. “Could be Kyoya, if she's dragging Benkei into it. Those loops are never the same twice.”

Gingka shrugged. “Whatever it is, I hope it works itself out soon.”

Kenta nodded in agreement.

 

“I-I'm sorry?” Yuki stammered, staring – along with everyone else in Ryo's office – at the furious Madoka.

“I said, I'm not going!” she repeated firmly. “I don't want anything to do with it!”

Gingka was baffled. “But Madoka, we need you! You're smarter than any of us, there's no way we could stop Nemesis without your help!”

This attempt at complimenting Madoka only made her angrier. “Oh really?! Well it sure didn't seem like you needed any help from me when it came to the Dark Nebula! Or Hades Inc.! You barely even paid attention to me!”

“You're being ridiculous,” Kyoya scoffed. “We all know those clowns wouldn't have made it as a team in the world championships without you keeping them in line.”

It was Benkei's turn to speak up. “Um, actually, Kyoya buddy... Madoka has a point. I mean, you know I'd follow you anywhere, pal, always!”

“But something's up, and I refuse to do anything until you explain yourselves,” Madoka finished with a glare.

Ryo turned to look at his son, very confused. “Gingka? What's this all about?”

Yuki watched it all with worry. “Um...is everything alright?”

“Absolutely not! Ever since he arrived, Gingka's breezed through everything! There's no way he could know half the things he knows!”

Kenta looked up at his friend, not sure how to continue this. “Gingka...?”

Gingka had been through countless time loops. He'd saved the Earth hundreds of times, learned the ins and outs of every Beyblade part, sung with mermaids and been to another planet.

None of that compared to an angry Madoka.

_Megumi said this might happen,_ he thought. _Madoka really is smart. Going through things as fast as we do...of course she'd notice, even if she isn't Awake! I'm not sure what to do here..._

“Gingka?” His father was frowning in concern. There was that, too. It wasn't just Madoka questioning him – Benkei was too. His father and Yuki were standing by, wondering what was going on.

He sighed. Even if Megumi and Melodia had needed to do it before, the idea wasn't very appealing.

He'd do it anyway.

“You might not believe me, but I'll try my best to tell you. You're going to have to trust me.”

 

Explaining that he was going through a time loop was not fun. Kenta did his best to help, and Kyoya...well, he nodded and grunted and added a few comments, and that was basically helping in his dictionary.

Everyone had, of course, been in disbelief. A few Beys pulled out of their magic pockets – Koudai, as Melodia had taken to calling them – and there wasn't a lot to doubt anymore. It was kind of hard to dispute the ability to pull something out of thin air.

Benkei was willing to believe in Kyoya, and Gingka's dad was willing to believe in him. Yuki was excited because their search for the Star Fragments would be infinitely easier with 'time travelers', and Madoka...

Well, she wasn't yelling at them anymore, but she was definitely still a little mad. Gingka swore to take any maintenance challenge she could throw at him and that he would help in all repairs, and that seemed to calm her down a bit.

After gaining promises that no one would spill the beans on this big secret, they were able to pack up and move out for the (some-hundredth) trip to find the Legendary Bladers.

 

3.8.1

“Gingka?”

“Yuh-huh?”

“Why the hell is my Leone a transforming marble?”

“Same reason Pegasus is, I guess.” Gingka shrugged, looking at the light green ball in his hand. “Something called...Bakugan? What do your Loop memories say?”

“They say this thing's called Sub Terra Leon.” Kyoya tossed his 'marble' up a few times. “Something about cards, and a game...”

Gingka nodded. “This one's.....Ventus Pegai. It's wind based. You and I are on some kind of team of...brawlers? I think there's six of us, one on each type. Uh, attribute.”

Kyoya stuck the offending thing into his pocket, then brought out his Fang Leone from his Koudai – Melodia's idea for the name had stuck. Apparently it meant 'pocket' in Chinese.

“Kyoya, you can't just use your Bey in every Loop we go to. Let's have some fun with this! C'mon, my memories say Kenta and Lucia are on this team, let's see if they're Awake! We've never been to a Loop like this before!”

His companion scowled, but ended up following him anyway.

 

The two headed across the unfamiliar town, following their Loop memories to the house the team met at, belonging to 'Xiaolian', the brawler that used the 'Darkus' element and a marble – a Bakugan – known as Lyncat.

“These decorations remind me of Beylin Temple,” Gingka commented as they found the entrance gate. “It's a pretty big house, too...”

“Seems she's some kind of wealthy Chinese girl,” Kyoya got from his memories. “According to my memories, her mother is a famous chef...who moved here after my father offered her a restaurant of her own. We all apparently met because I was told to show Xiaolian around, and we spotted you and Kenta with your Bakugan...”

Gingka nodded. “You do have a habit of being rich in some Loops...I wonder if this Xiaolian is a Looper, too?”

“I doubt it. It's only been the eight of us so far, why would someone else start Looping when those spirits are supposed to be fixing this?”

Gingka shrugged, then went up to knock on the door. There was no response for a moment, then a cheerful voice called out, “Be right there!”

The boys waited, noting the voice sounded like Kenta. When the door opened, it was indeed their younger friend, beaming up at them.

“Hi Gingka! Hi Kyoya! Xiaolian and the others are waiting, you said you'd be here twenty minutes ago!”

Gingka chuckled. “Sorry about that, Kenta. Woke Up a little Loopy, you know?”

Kenta's eyes widened, and his grin only grew. “Me too! C'mon!”

The older Bladers followed him upstairs, Kenta showing them his own Bakugan on the way. “This is Haos Centuras! Lucia has two, Aquos Hippokampoi and Aquos Nerei, and I think they're supposed to represent Hippo and Yuuri.”

“What about Xiaolian? She has a Darkus Lyncat, right?”

Kenta nodded. “Uh-huh. And then our last member, Megan, uses Pyrus. Though she doesn't battle often...”

Kyoya hummed in thought. “Megan... So she's in that blond appearance this time?”

“Yup!” Kenta stopped in front of a door, knocking. “Xiaolian? It's us! Gingka and Kyoya are here!”

There was a shout that might've been a reply, but they couldn't understand it. Moments later, the door opened, and the blond they'd just spoken of smiled back at them. Loop memories agreed on her identity – their Pyrus brawler, Megan.

“Get in here!” she urged slowly. Gingka noted that this must be a Loop with language differences – Megan might not be fluent in Japanese, if she was Asleep. “Lucia and Xiaolian are waiting for you!”

The boys entered the room, which held a couple of couches and some desks, all of which held a computer. Everything seemed color coded – six desks, six computers, six chairs, one in each color associated with the six attributes. At the blue desk sat Lucia, nervously smiling at them. Megan rushed to the red desk, and Kenta went to the white one. From one of the couches, a girl stood, her purple and black outfit identifying her as Xiaolian.

“Sit down, please! Lucia has something important to tell us all.” She bowed in a hasty greeting as she requested this. As she headed for the black desk, the boys took the hint and sat at the remaining two – plain brown for Kyoya, and painted pale green for Gingka.

When everyone was seated, Lucia stood, fidgeting slightly. “Ah...I'm not sure how to start, Xiaolian...”

“Why don't you introduce us properly?” their host suggested.

Lucia nodded slightly. “Um, okay...” After taking a moment to collect herself, she announced, “Hippo? Yuuri? Will you come out and meet my friends?”

The three Bladers and Pyrus brawler watched in shock as two blue Bakugan hopped onto Lucia's shoulders and opened, revealing their minuscule forms. The one on the right then spoke.

“I am, as you know me, Aquos Hippokampoi. But you are free to call me simply Hippo!”

The other Bakugan seemed to squirm a bit. “Um, I'm...Aquos Nerei...but please call me Yuuri.”

“They talk?!” Megan exclaimed, notably in English. Xiaolian nodded, “Lucia came to me about this yesterday. It seems that Hippo and Yuuri want to tell us about what Bakugan really are.”

“They're not supposed to talk.” Gingka blanked a bit on anything else. The Bakugan were just toys, they couldn't...

“Well, they do. And I think what they have to say could be important.” Xiaolian turned towards the two Bakugan on Lucia's shoulders. “Would you enlighten us?”

Hippo was happy to oblige. He began explaining that the Bakugan were not toys, but sentient creatures from a broken world known as Vestroia. They had been pulled to Earth by unknown forces, coinciding with the time that the Bakugan balls and cards had mysteriously started raining from the sky. They became trapped in these forms, only freed during battles, where they were limited in action by the cards, which controlled them and accessed their normal abilities.

The Bladers were amazed. A world like this was completely new to them, and it was a little hard to believe. When the explanation ended, Megan immediately pulled out her Bakugan and tried speaking to it, while Xiaolian seemed to ponder the situation with full attention.

Eventually, Xiaolian twisted her chair in order to face her desk. “I think we need to report this.”

Kenta's jaw dropped. “Report it? To who, the police?”

“No! To the Battle Brawlers. They should know about this!”

“The Battle Brawlers?” Gingka fished through his Loop memories, trying to find an explanation. Apparently, the Battle Brawlers were the creators of the game – even more surprising, they were only kids, mostly just over Kenta's age.

The group gathered around their leader as she opened the Bakugan forums, searching through for the page where brawlers could contact the game makers for advice. Upon finding it, she typed up a message, then leaned back so the others could see. “Does that look good?”

_Battle Brawlers, my team has made some interesting friends who have some unique perspective on the game. Do you think you could come out and meet them? I promise it won't be a waste of your time. -Xiaolian, Darkus_

The team agreed on it, and Xiaolian posted the message. “Now we just have to wait. If we're lucky, they'll answer soon.”

Kenta sighed. “Man, this is...”

“Loopy?” Gingka suggested, half answering and half wondering about other Loopers.

Megan and Lucia gave simple nods, while Xiaolian giggled. “That could be one word for it.”

The Bladers exchanged glances. Maybe...

 

The team spent a while going over battle strategies, then Megan and Lucia went on their way. Kenta apologized, having promised his mother he'd help with dinner, and he left as well.

Xiaolian didn't seem to mind that Kyoya and Gingka stayed, though had to excuse herself for Japanese lessons with her tutor for an hour. She winked when she said it though, and suggested they wait for her in the garden, while asking Gingka to behave himself so her father wouldn't have an excuse to kick him out. Apparently the man was a bit strict, and less than certain about the company she kept.

The two relocated as proposed, taking the opportunity to sift through their Koudai and catch up on separate Loops. Kyoya was impatient about their situation, but Gingka did his best to distract him with theories and promises to try a 'Bakugan brawl' after they'd spoken to Xiaolian.

When the hour was up, Xiaolian joined them, shouting a happy, “Ni hao!” in greeting. She sat herself on one of the benches near them, beaming. “So, you think this is a Loopy situation, huh?”

“Spare the jokes,” Kyoya snapped. She just smiled and shook her head.

“You still hate these unfamiliar Loops, huh? I guess this place is sort of new territory for you.” Xiaolian shrugged. “I'm excited, really! The Bakugan here are so unique, I wish I could take some with me at the end of the Loop. I don't know about putting living creatures in the Koudai, though...”

Gingka frowned slightly. “You know about that?”

“What?” Xiaolian gave him a puzzled look, before her eyes widened. “Do I really look that different?”

Kyoya growled. “What are you talking about?”

Xiaolian giggled. “Guys, it's me! Melodia!” At their silence, she laughed harder. “I said it when we met, right? Melodia's my middle name. My first name is Xiaolian.”

After taking this in, Gingka sighed. “That's a little confusing...”

“Yeah, sometimes. Meg had trouble getting it too, at first.” She smiled. “Just call me Xiaolian for this Loop, okay? It'll avoid any trouble. My...father here is...very insistent I keep China in my heart. He'd probably flip out if he heard I had my friends calling me something very un-Chinese.” Xiaolian sighed. “Man, I hate when I Loop into a strict family...”

“Does it happen often?”

“Not particularly...it just isn't pleasant.” She frowned a bit, twitching her nose. “So, anyway, truth is that this is part of my home time. I mean, it's like...four years before I ever Wake Up, but I've been here before. I tend to get a lot of varying Loops.”

“Because there's so much going on in your home time, right?” Gingka asked. She nodded.

“Actually, I'm kind of good friends with some of the Battle Brawlers back home,” she confessed with a grin. “They're kind of frustrating at this age, but...then again, this age isn't exactly easy, y'know?”

Gingka nodded knowingly. Many Loops held a Sleeping tween Kenta of disastrous attitude. “Can you tell us a bit about them?”

“Sure! We'll probably only meet the leader and maybe the Haos Brawler, since we live in their town, but I like bragging about my friends.”

Kyoya muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'that's a load of crap', but she ignored it with just the smallest of eye twitches.

“I'll try to keep this short. Um, Dan Kuso is the leader, and a Pyrus Brawler. If this was an anime, he's the not-too-bright, hot-headed protagonist who gets too many power ups. Runo Misaki, the Haos Brawler, is the sort-of-hinted-at love interest and also has a temper.

“Choji Marukura, AKA Marucho, is the rich child genius and Aquos Brawler. Julie Makimoto is the kind of airheaded girl with the big crush on the protagonist, and she's Sub Terra. Alice Gehabich is...think along the lines of if Toby transformed into Faust against his will at any time. That 'Faust' side of her is a Darkus Brawler, and a villain for a while because she's completely unaware of it.

“Finally, Shun Kazami. He's basically the lone wolf ninja boy who has a lot on his mind but does still care about his friends. All in all these guys save the world a lot in their timeline and honestly we don't really have to step in if we don't want to. Except in like five years I'll be diverting things because after the second alien war it gets weird and dumb and I avoid those battles at all costs whenever I'm here.”

While Kyoya raised an eyebrow at her ending statement, Gingka's mind was elsewhere. “So...what you're saying is, we can just goof off and _not_ be in charge of the fate of the world for once?”

Xiaolian smiled. “Yup.”

“Dude, I _love_ this Loop!”

Her smile only got bigger. “Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3.1 is a bit of info dump and world building. Actual literal world building.
> 
> 3.3 was inspired by this big project thing I once tried to do but then got bored of. As said in 3.4, it was called "Reverse Saga" and it's basically what it seems to be.
> 
> 3.4 was some poking into Melodia and Megumi's history but being vague because that would be spoilers for their story. Also there's no way Kyoya would be okay with their secrecy so yeah, he turned into a bit of a butt.
> 
> 3.5 was from me reading up on all sorts of mystical/mythological/fantasy/etc. creatures.
> 
> 3.6 was peeking into Melodia's life a teeny tiny bit.
> 
> 3.8 will be finished in another update!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of ideas so if anyone has something and would like to share that would be amazingly great and fantastic thank you :D

4.1

“I must be seeing things,” Melodia deadpanned, “because there is no way you're holding what I think you're holding, Kenta.”

The boy in question frowned. “So you do know what this is about!” he pressed, shaking the packaged Bey.

Melodia sighed. “It's...yes? I'm not so sure you'll like the answer.”

“Why is my Sagitarrio being marketed as a toy?!”

Motioning for Kenta to lower his voice, Melodia glanced around the store they stood in. It had been a relatively calm Loop – they were in Lucia's world, and currently in the peaceful time between Gaito and Mikeru. As the only two awake, they'd stuck together upon bumping into each other.

“Just put it down for now and let's talk outside, okay? It's kind of weird to explain, and I was sort of hoping Yona would be the one to do this...”

After returning the Bey to its shelf and buying the food they'd actually gone there for, the two left the store and Melodia led the way to a bench, offering Kenta one of the snack buns they'd gotten. When he didn't take it, she sighed again.

“You know how I've said there are different worlds for everything?” she began, seeing he was too determined for answers to accept anything else. “It's related to that. In some worlds, Beyblade and mermaids and Voltron, they're real. They're part of life. In others...well...”

She fidgeted. “See, the easiest way I can put it is...sometimes, those things appear in worlds and are...not part of every day life. They're...they're entertainment. TV shows, and toys... like the Beys you saw in the store.”

Melodia watched Kenta nervously, waiting for his reaction. She was relieved that it wasn't Kyoya she was telling this to – she was sure he'd already be throwing a fit. Kenta, though...she wasn't sure what he'd do.

After some silent thought, Kenta frowned. “So... What exactly do these...TV shows of us...what are they? What's in them?”

“Uh, it starts with Gingka showing up in your town...well, basically it goes from that to him beating Ryuga in Battle Bladers. That's season one. Season two is finding Galaxy Pegasus and beating Faust... Season three is all the Legendary Blader stuff.” Melodia glanced away. “From my experience, it follows your actual timeline pretty solidly...”

“And people watch it for fun?”

Melodia nodded.

 

They spent the rest of the Loop tracking down the entire series for Kenta's timeline and collecting toy Beyblades to prank people with.

 

4.2

“So if Kakeru is from your timeline, how come he sometimes appears in ours?” Gingka asked curiously, watching the boy in question battling Kyoya – and losing, of course.

Megumi shrugged. “Uh, Mel told you guys about the whole TV show bit, right? The Beyblade stuff started out as a manga, and Kakeru actually originates from that. I don't know much else, we never really found it, so...”

“Huh. Do I have any siblings in that?”

“No, I think it might just be Kyoya.”

Gingka paused, then looked at Megumi hopefully. “What about in your world? You said lots of us have siblings there.”

“Hmm....I _could_ tell you, but...” Megumi grinned. “It's more fun to make you guess.”

“Oh come on!”

 

3.8.2

_The others are unavailable, but I will meet with you. Come to my dojo and we'll talk. - Shun Kazami, Ventus*_

“Shun might be Looping?” Kenta repeated.

Xiaolian nodded. “He's acted a bit off the past few times I've Looped here. And this...he might be testing the waters. If he remembers me, he knows I'm not part of the Alpha, and he'll want to know if I'm Awake.”

From his desk, Gingka realized, “So the lack of directions to his dojo are on purpose?”

“That's my guess. Either I'll ask for them, thus telling him I'm Sleeping, or I'll show up without needing them, and he'll confront me.”

“So which do we go for?”

Xiaolian shrugged. “I'd like to think he'd be a good ally. He takes things very seriously and I'm sure he'd like to have some answers. And if he is Looping, we should tell Stratea and his sisters.”

Kenta hopped off his chair. “Then we should go get the others and get going, right?”

“Right.”

\----------

“So time is repeating not because of a new enemy arriving, but because a very powerful one was defeated?” Shun asked, lowering his tea.

Xiaolian nodded. Getting to Shun's dojo had been easy enough, and once they had explained their first purpose for being here – that was, Hippo and Yuuri – the team had been taken to the garden. Shun had, as suspected, been Awake, and recognized Xiaolian easily. Filling him in – as well as the Sleeping Lucia and Megan, even if they didn't quite understand – had been thankfully very easy, as he took the situation well.

“My team and I are all Loopers, though Lucia and Megan aren't Awake right now – they don't have memories of their past Loops this time, that is,” Xiaolian explained. “My home Loop has Bakugan just like this – I went through everything up to the war between Gundalia and Neathia, though I know about what happens after that as well due to Loops here. The others are new to Bakugan entirely.”

“I see.” Shun looked over them all with a look that reminded Gingka of Tsubasa. “So you are traveling to different worlds because of these Loops, then? Which is why you are all here now?”

Blowing on his tea, Gingka stopped to nod. “That's right! And the spirits that we mentioned, they're trying to fix all this, but there's a lot of complicated energy stuff involved. It'll take a really long time.”

“The next time we see one of them, we'll let them know about you so they can give you a few more details,” Xiaolian assured him.

Shun didn't answer until after he'd taken another drink of his tea. It was a simple, “I would appreciate that.”

“So, have you been on your own?” Kenta asked curiously. “I mean, does anyone else here Loop?”

“As far as I know, it's only me.” Shun looked up for a moment, possibly thinking. “There might be...one other, actually. There's someone acting odd this time around.”

“Dan?” Xiaolian guessed.

Shun shook his head. “His Bakugan, Drago. While Bakugan in their ball forms aren't very...visually expressive most of the time, I could still see some confusion that hasn't been there before.”

Xiaolian sipped her own tea, contemplating this a moment. “I guess it would make sense he'd be one of the first to Wake up,” she said at last, “after all the energy he's gained in every Loop. The Battle Brawlers definitely get around.”

Shun set his cup down. “If I may change the subject a moment...”

“Of course.”

“While I know you are familiar with this world, you say that your friends are not. I'd like to ask that you all stay out of the direct line of battle. There are many great dangers and enemies that would take advantage of you if allowed.” Shun glanced around the team. “I won't ask you to remain passive and not battle at all, but there are definitely some Brawlers that you should avoid. I'm sure Xiaolian can fill you in. Other than those situations, please enjoy yourselves here.”

Xiaolian chuckled. “So long as I can help avoid things post-second war, I think we can manage that.” At Shun's raised eyebrow, she just smiled sheepishly. “Unless you _want_ to lose Bakugan Interspace and travel back in time to stop a city's destruction?”

“Wait, there's time travel here?” Gingka asked, shocked.

“I don't recommend it.” Shun smirked slightly. “I suppose we can work something out.”

Leaning over to Lucia, Megan whispered, “Do you have any idea what Bakugan Interspace is?”

Lucia shook her head, replying, “I'm still not sure if they've lost it or not...”

 

4.3

“No no, this'll be good, trust me,” Melodia promised Kenta and Kyoya. The two Sleeping Bladers frowned in confusion as Melodia hurried over to the Awake Gingka, currently stuffing his face with a burger.

“Hey Gingka, what's up with your eyebrows?” she asked with a grin.

Gingka blinked, then swallowed. “A wizard cursed my ancestors.” As if to demonstrate, his eyebrows detached from his face and floated up into his hair.

They could hear Kenta trying not to scream in the background.

 

4.4

Something was bothering Gingka this Loop.

It was a base run. He beat Ryuga early as usual, spent some time with his friends and helped around the shop, everything was normal.

Except one tiny little thing. And it was driving him crazy.

“You're imagining things,” Benkei huffed. “Kyoya's never had scars! I don't know what you're talking about!”

Kyoya didn't have his scars, and for some reason, he just didn't seem like Kyoya without them. Gingka knew it was ridiculous – there was no change in the Sleeping Kyoya's behavior – but the simple little difference made him all sorts of mad.

 

The Looping Kyoya of course made fun of him for it next time they saw each other.

 

4.5.1

“Gingka! How good to see you again! I've been itching for a battle for Loops now!”

Too shocked to answer, Gingka could only stare at Melodia, her wide grin making him shudder. Kenta and Madoka hid behind him – both Sleeping – while an Awake Kyoya and Sleeping Benkei watched the girl above them with silence matching his.

“Why?” He managed at last, struggling to understand. “If you're Awake, why would you side with the Dark Nebula?!”

He knew that grin. He knew the twitching face and the golden Bey holder. They all added up to one thing – a Blader controlled by Lightning L-Drago.

And instead of Ryuga, who had been with Doji when it was stolen from Koma Village, it was an Awake Melodia who stood before him. The Loop memories and the current situation didn't fit together.

“Where's Ryuga?!” he shouted, gaining a laugh from her.

“Ryuga had an accident!” she snickered. “He's not here right now. I'll battle you instead!”

_I hoped I'd never get a Loop like this,_ Gingka thought worriedly. He knew that he and the other Loopers were in a situation where they could slip up and succumb to dark energy – it wasn't easy, what they did, what they were stuck in. They'd been lucky enough to never have to face each other in Loops where someone...snapped.

Unfortunately, it seemed like that luck had run out.

He felt a light punch to his shoulder, and looked over to find Kyoya watching him expectantly. “What are you waiting for? A Loop is a Loop, an enemy is an enemy! Take her down!”

Kyoya was right. Gingka had to defeat her – not just for the safety of this Loop, but for her own sanity.

They were family, and he wasn't the type to leave family to the darkness.

“Then let's not waste any time, Melodia! I'm ready when you are!”

 

Gingka did not win the battle.

Gingka went to the hospital with a broken arm when it was over.

Gingka had no explanation for his friends, or for himself.

Melodia was a vicious battler. He'd never faced her, nor had any of them for that matter – she was very private about her Bey and her skills related to it, past maintenance and part identification. In this Loop, Awake and controlled by the dark power, she was cruel and taunting and merciless. Kenta and Madoka had nightmares.

There was only one place he could think of to go. Gingka took his friends to Koma Village in hopes of getting some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4.2 Someday we'll see more people from Mel and Meg's world, when they aren't spoilers for Mel and Meg's story.
> 
> 3.8 I wanted to do more with this but my brain stalls every time, so this Loop is now complete.
> 
> 4.3 THE EYEBROWS GO OVER HIS HEADBAND THEY CAN'T BE REAL EYEBROWS OKAY
> 
> 4.5 Looping is hard, and they're just kids. When you mix that with dark energy, someone's gonna snap eventually.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my little sister for some Loop ideas!! Still stuck a bit, but it helps!

5.1

“I have to admit, Beyblade is more interesting than I thought it would be,” Shun admitted, looking over his Storm Corvus. “It's disappointing that not everyone is Awake, though.”

Kenta nodded. “Yeah, everyone being Awake at once isn't very common.” He looked over to the others enjoying Madoka's barbecue – out of everyone, only he and Shun were Awake. “But, I'm glad you get to experience our base run. Being in one early on gives you a chance to see what everyone was like before all this started!”

“So would you recommend that I follow the original timeline for the full experience, then?”

“Yeah! And if you want any heads up on what's going to happen, just tell me, okay?”

Shun promised, “I'll take that into consideration.”

Kenta smiled, then took a bite from his shish kebab. “You know, it really is too bad our Loop in your world ended after the first season! I would've loved to learn more about all of it!”

“It was a bit disappointing,” Shun agreed. “I think you would all like Bakugan Interspace. I'm not sure how you would busy yourselves while Dan, Marucho and I are on New Vestroia, though...”

“You said there's three years between beating Naga and going there, right? Then around another year from that to the Gundalian stuff?”

“Usually three, but sometimes it's anywhere from one to five is what I've noticed since then. It's very strange.”

Kenta looked up at him in surprise. “Really, that much variation? So weird!” When Shun only shrugged, he continued, “Well I'm sure we could find something to do! I wanna finish school someday, but we never get a Loop long enough for it. And I'd love seeing how your Earth is different from ours, or Lucia's!”

Shun chuckled as he chewed his own food. “Maybe I'll grab some of Marucho's books for your to study with. Who knows, maybe Bakugan Interspace could happen in your Beyblade world someday.”

“You really think?”

Shrugging, Shun smiled, “If my world has a pint sized genius, I think it's only fair that yours should have one as well.”

Kenta giggled, letting the conversation fall for a while as they ate in comfortable silence. Well, as silent as it could get with Benkei shouting in the background. It didn't hit him until he came back with his second kebab, “Wait a second, are you talking about me?!”

Now leaning against a wall, Shun chuckled again. “Why not? It doesn't seem like Gingka or Kyoya are interested in things like that, and you say your Loop's two geniuses are perpetually Sleeping.”

“Well yeah, but...” Kenta was uncertain. Could he really become as smart as all that? From what Shun had told them, Bakugan Interspace was a digital world that turned humans into data. Did he truly believe Kenta could achieve that?

As the rest of the Loop went on, Kenta thought on it. If nothing else, it might turn out to be fun?

 

4.5.2

_As the helicopter departed from Mount Hagane, it was suddenly bashed from outside. As Doji and the weakened Ryuga watched, a glowing pink blade slipped through the crack of the door, tearing it open and revealing a girl, floating along with the machine as easily as if she was standing._

_The blade vanished, and the girl locked in a Beyblade that seemed to come from nowhere. In a voice, sharpened with fury, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the flying vehicle, she demanded, “Give me L-Drago.”_

“The rest is a blur. We battled. I fell. When I Awoke, your dog was watching me, and I've been hiding here and recovering ever since.”

Gingka and his friends sat in silence, taking in the story that had been given to them. Eventually, Madoka murmured, “I can't believe it. She flew? How is that possible?”

“She can do a lot of things like that,” Kyoya answered. “She's not exactly normal.”

Curled up next to Benkei and watching Gingka worriedly – mostly his broken arm – Kenta asked, “How do you guys know her? Have you met her before?”

With a sigh, Gingka nodded. “Kyoya and I have both traveled with her before.” Turning to their injured storyteller, he guessed, “And it sounds like you have, too, Ryuga.”

His answer was a simple nod. A hush fell over the group, no one sure what to say. Gingka hadn't expected this Loop at all, and his mind was in a frenzy. What could he do? Just how strong was their enemy – Melodia – going to be?

As strange as it was, it comforted him that Ryuga was with them. Though he still wasn't sure how long Ryuga had been Looping, it had apparently been long enough that he'd met Melodia and was no longer obsessed with the power of L-Drago.

Gingka hoped that Kenta would Awaken at some point this Loop. He felt that Ryuga could use company he could...maybe 'enjoy' wasn't the right word, but it was close enough.

Breaking the silence, Kyoya announced, “You know what you have to do, Gingka.”

As much as he hated it, Gingka nodded. “I have to defeat her.”

Ryuga reached into his pocket, holding something out to him. “You might want this.”

“A Beyblade?” Kenta wondered.

Gingka took it silently, then turned to Madoka and offered it to her. “When we get back to town, please, repair this as best as you can, okay?”

Puzzled, Madoka took it and looked it over. “I'll try my best, but...this is a lot of damage, Gingka.” She turned to Ryuga. “Where did you get this?”

“It's hers,” he said simply. “Hades Lynx. That's the Beyblade she used to defeat me.”

Gingka added somberly, “It may be our key to getting Melodia back.”

 

5.2

“Why are his scars on his forehead?!” Gingka complained to Awake Kenta.

Kenta only shrugged. “Why am I twice my normal height? Why are your eyebrows pink? This is a weird Loop, Gingka.”

 

5.3

“I'm sorry Kenta, but it's just too funny!” Gingka said through tears, barely able to speak at all through his laughter. Kenta scowled, which only got Kyoya to lose it as well.

“I hate you,” he informed his friends. Or at least, he tried – his toddler abilities made it more sound like “I a oo.”

Gingka fell on the floor. Kyoya started snorting.

Kenta's babysitters – Akira, Takeshi, and Osamu – exchanged glances, trying to figure out how their charge knew these kids and when they'd met in the first place. “Are you, uh, friends of Kenta's?” Akira asked cautiously.

Eight year old Gingka did his best to nod, but no one really saw it. “He looks like a tiny monkey!” he burst out. Nine year old Kyoya was at the point where he was laughing too hard to even make noise.

Takeshi slowly reached down and picked up the two-year-old Kenta. “I think we should go...”

Akira and Osamu nodded, and the trio left the younger kids to their terrifying laughing fits. Kenta was a scowling ball of fury the whole way. He couldn't even launch a Bey like this – his coordination wasn't anywhere near good enough!

He could still hold a book and read...Maybe he'd try the child genius route like Shun had suggested, after all.

 

5.4

“Gingka's taking to this very well,” Melodia – or rather, Pearlsong the unicorn – commented, watching the sky blue pegasus sort out how to fly using his Loop memories.

Beside her, Flash Arrow the yellow earth pony colt – known as Kenta in most Loops – corrected her, “You mean Cosmic Storm.”

Melodia giggled. “I think I'm going to like this Loop! Up here in Canterlot we won't have to deal with a lot of the problems. I think this is one of the shows I bought, do you wanna marathon it with me?”

“Maybe after Wild Fang calms down,” was the answer, with a nod to the green earth pony that was standing in a cloud of silent rage nearby. “By the way, what're these things on our sides again?”

“Those are called cutie marks. They represent your special talent.” Melodia nodded towards her own lavender flank, which showcased a plum-colored pearl surrounded by white music notes. “I can find the right words to sing anywhere and everywhere.”

“And I don't have one because....”

“You haven't found your talent yet. But since Gingka's is clearing storms and Kyoya's is...I think tornado related, it's probably something similar to your special moves with Sagitarrio.”

Kenta thought on this. “Huh...how long do you think this Loop will last?”

“I'm not sure... in relation to past Loops I've had, the show is still going on. Maybe somewhere between the length of yours and the length for a Bakugan one?”

'Flash Arrow' grinned. “Then I've got plenty of time to find out!”

'Pearlsong' nodded, beaming with equal excitement. “I can't wait to see what my music magic is like here!”

 

4.5.3

Staring out the window at the decimated stadium that had been used for Battle Bladers, Gingka could only think, _It's almost time._

Melodia had followed the base run to the letter, betraying Doji and destroying Hikaru and Tsubasa in battle. Kyoya almost seemed to defeat her, break through to her, but L-Drago's control was too great, and he fell as he would have in his Sleep.

Gingka scowled for a moment, then turned back to his friends. Madoka, Kenta, Hyoma, Yu, and Ryuga – the final perhaps not quite a friend, but still an ally. Benkei was watching Kyoya and the others, as he always did.

“Madoka,” he said at last, “were you able to finish repairing Hades Lynx?”

She slowly nodded. As always, the tournament had taken its toll on her, forcing her to watch her friends become nothing but food for L-Drago. “What are you going to do, Gingka?”

“What he has to do,” Ryuga said simply. “He's going to battle her.”

Gingka nodded, though reluctantly. “Madoka...I hope someday, you can meet the real Melodia. When she is free from L-Drago's control for good.” He tried to smile. “I think you two would really get along.”

“You...You do?”

Walking over to take Hades Lynx, Gingka nodded again. “Someday...you two will have awesome adventures, I just know it.”

Though Madoka clearly didn't know if she should believe that, she handed over Melodia's Bey. “You really think well of her, don't you? Even...after all of this...”

Looking down at the repaired Bey, Gingka answered, “She's more than a friend, after all we've been through together. Melodia is family to me, and I will save her no matter the cost!”

 

When Gingka returned to the stadium, his friends along with him, he was ready. As he'd expected, Melodia was waiting for him.

There was no special stage like Ryuga would prepare in the base run. The stadium had been cleared of rubble, a new bowl carved out for their final battle. She seemed delighted, in some twisted way, to see the others, laughing at Ryuga's presence.

“Is somebody mad that his Beyblade doesn't like him anymore?” she taunted. In her hand, L-Drago pulsed with its deep purple energy.

Ryuga said nothing, scowling in silence. Gingka stepped forward, Bey locked into his launcher. “Let's skip the chit chat, Melodia! We both know what you want!”

The Beys were launched. The battle began. Initial contact created a large blast, and a cloud of smoke overtook the arena. A few clashes later, energy blazed from the bowl, the Beys' spirits appearing in the light.

Gingka's friends gasped in shock. “That's not Pegasus!” Hyoma exclaimed, unbelieving of the spotted wildcat that yowled at L-Drago.

There was a twitching shock in Melodia's wide eyes, before she demanded sharply, “You think you can beat me with that Bey?! You don't even know what it can do!”

“I don't have to!” he replied. “Hades Lynx and I have the same goal here today – we are both here to fight for you, Melodia! I know that it will lend me its power, because this is your true Bey, and nothing will stop it from reuniting with you!”

Her fury only seemed to grow. “L-Drago!” The dark Bey responded, colliding with Gingka's Bey – her Bey – once again, the spirit of the dragon clamping its jaws down on the lynx that opposed it.

Inexperienced with Lynx's abilities, Gingka was forced to watch as L-Drago attacked it again and again, Melodia seeming oblivious to the destruction she was causing to her former Beyblade. Madoka, desperate to help, was searching through Lynx's data as fast as she could, but so far finding nothing.

“Is this really what you want?!” Gingka cried. “You would go so far as to destroy your own precious Beyblade?! Answer me, Melodia!”

“That thing means nothing to me!” she raged. “Power, I need power, and with L-Drago I will control all the power in the world! I will never fall! I will never again face the taste of fatal defeat!” With a wave of her arm, L-Drago flew to attack again. “My enemies will be crushed! My world will know justice!”

Gingka reached for Lynx, begging it to release its power for Melodia's sake as her words ran through his head. Something seemed wrong about them...

“Your Bey, which has battled with you, by your side, for years and lifetimes, you'd give it up just like that?” Gingka asked sharply. “Megumi has told me how much Lynx means to you!”

“It isn't strong enough! I need more power than it can give me, and I've found that power!”

_She's desperate for strength,_ Ryuga's voice rang through Gingka's head. _She has lost bitterly, faced the ultimate defeat, and it has caused great anger. She will stop at nothing to prevent it from happening again._

Gingka glanced back at Ryuga, who would know more than anyone how L-Drago worked to control its Blader. But his words didn't make sense – Melodia held a hatred for Lightning L-Drago to rival Gingka's. In her home Loop, the Dark Nebula had caused her and her own friends great pain, he knew that much. Why would she accept the dark power? What kind of defeat would change her so much?

_If only I knew more!_ he thought. _If only I knew what enemies she's faced...what powers she's battled against. If only I knew how to break through to her!_

“Why, Melodia?!” he asked, in desperation of his own. “Why do you need that power so badly?!”

He received no answer other than a roar of anger, before L-Drago charged again. Gingka was forced to put his full attention to the battle, determined to stop this before it was too late.

“Lynx!” he cried. “I know that you and I have never battled. We don't know each other as true partners should! But I ask you, for just this one battle, lend me your strength! We can save her, but we need to work together!”

He felt no response from the Bey's spirit. Gingka grit his teeth, trying to recall everything he knew about Melodia and the relationship she had with her Bey. He knew she cared for it, treasured it more than anything else – even her mermaid pendant. Megumi had said it was a beacon for her new life.

For just a moment, he thought he felt Lynx pulse in response. Gingka felt anger, misery, crushing defeat; his balance faltered, and he swayed under the pressure of the intense emotions.

_You were there,_ he realized. _You were there when it happened. Tell me, please! Tell me what happened to her so that we can save her!_

“You're not even putting up a fight, Gingka!” Melodia complained. “If you had only used Pegasus like you were supposed to, then we'd have a real battle!”

“Don't give up, Gingka!” his friends called to him.

Lynx pulsed again, stronger. Gingka opened his heart to the Bey, urging it to speak to him.

The spirit that came from the Bey and into his mind was not the wildcat he saw in the battle, but a girl with brown hair and dead eyes – Melodia.

The world turned black. Gingka blinked, and Megumi was on the ground, Melodia shaking her desperately. There was a flash of gold and blue lights that seemed to pierce them, and...

Gingka was suddenly alone in the darkness.

With pain in his heart, Gingka understood what had happened. He came back to the battle, whispering, “Thank you, Lynx. I know what I have to do now.”

Reaching into his Koudai, Gingka withdrew the largest Pesuth stone he had – as big as his fist – and held onto it tightly. This wasn't the right type of Loop for it, and his plan might not work, but it was all he could try.

Melodia was from a world of far more than just Beyblade. She had more than the spirit of the Bey that could be crushed and torn and tainted. If he wanted to break through to her, he couldn't do it through battle alone.

And there was one thing he knew about Melodia that just might do it.

With his other hand, Gingka withdrew a green Pearl Tear from Lucia's Loop – Yuuri had given him one of her extras – and he called on its power, channeling the magic along with the Pesuth stone into a magic that he could use.

_I'm not your owner,_ he told the Tear. _But I need your help one more time. I need your magic to help me save this Mermaid Princess!_

When the Beys next clashed, Lynx held firm. Melodia growled as an aura of white surrounded her opponent, taking shape into a sphere of positive energy. With a twitch of her hand, her pendant appeared, and L-Drago's spirit swarmed around her. “You think you can beat me with my own power?!”

“It was never about beating you, Melodia! It was about saving you!”

She sneered, music beginning to play from the Tear in her hand, sharp and quick. Gingka, nowhere near as skilled as her in this magic, couldn't override it.

_“Does it feel good, knowing you tried_  
_Knowing that all that remains_  
_Is the slow, cold, brutal death_  
_Of the fools that will all die in vain?”_

_“How does it feel_  
_Knowing your efforts will fail?_  
_All that you've built will be torn down_  
_The hope of your people assailed”_

 

Behind Gingka, his friends suffered under the effects of the dark song. Melodia, strengthened by the power of L-Drago, had turned her Pearl Tear into a force of evil, her song twisted and cold. Even those without magic could feel the power behind it. Gingka was barely protected by the sphere of Pesuth around him.

_“Send your guardians, they will fail_  
_Legends and heroes will crumble and fall_  
_You will not prevail”_

_“When allied together, a threat men display_  
_Divide them with doubt, it will all wash away”_

_“One spark can incite their hope_  
_And ignite the hearts of their weary souls_  
_I will extinguish that flame”_

 

The 'flame', as she put it, tightened his hold on the magic he was borrowing. He was no expert at this, but one thing he knew was that singing of thoughts and emotions made the power stronger.

Melodia had fallen in battle the harshest way anyone could. Desperate to grow strong enough to prevent that from happening again, she had been pulled in by L-Drago.

Gingka turned his thoughts to a Loop he, many times, wished he could forget. Now, it turned into his strength, as his experience there might just reach through the power of L-Drago to the girl it controlled.

The music shifted as Gingka grabbed hold. Melodia's glare could shatter ice with its fierceness, but he held fast.

Pesuth was about peace. Pearl Tears brought pure songs of healing. With them, and Hades Lynx, Gingka gathered every bit of his strength to overcome Melodia's song and L-Drago's might.

_“I remembered black skies_  
_The lightning all around me”_

Gingka wasn't perfect.

_“I remembered each flash_  
_As time began to blur”_

In his countless lifetimes, he still made mistakes.

_“Like a startling sign_  
_That fate had finally found me”_

There was one Loop where he had made the greatest mistake he possibly could.

_“And your voice was all I heard_  
_That I get what I deserve”_

In that one Loop, he had failed. He knew the pain that Melodia felt, and sharing that experience was the best way to reach the true spirit that was trapped within the shell of darkness created by L-Drago.

_“There was nothing in sight_  
_But memories left abandoned”_

Gingka let that Loop experience go, allowed it to enter his song.

_“There was nowhere to hide_  
_The ashes fell like snow”_

It was his greatest failure. His greatest fear.

_“And the ground caved in_  
_Between where we were standing”_

Gingka had let his confidence run too far, and the world had paid the price.

_“And your voice was all I heard_  
_That I get what I deserve”_

Gingka had caused the world to fall to Nemesis, and everything he knew had been destroyed.

Now, he shared the memories of that world with Melodia, reminding her that they did not have to fall because of their mistakes.

Though his song was cold in its lyrics, the feelings he put into it were warm. He regretted his loss, knew he could have prevented it, but accepted the failure as it was. They didn't have to be perfect. Looping or not, they were still only humans and mermaids, Bladers and Brawlers. They were no almighty deities.

Melodia had gone still, the dark aura pulsing around her as L-Drago was tossed around in the arena by Hades Lynx. Gingka called out to the borrowed Bey, hoping to finish the battle without further damage to Melodia's spirit.

Behind him, he heard his friends, and others, calling out to him with their support. Gingka called upon that strength, sending it to Lynx. “You don't need L-Drago to become stronger, Melodia. We're here for you! Don't let your grief and anger control you!”

The dragons surrounding Melodia faltered. Just for a moment.

With no warning, her Pearl Tear began to shine. The aura of darkness shattered, a sphere of light like Gingka's taking its place. Though L-Drago continued to spin within the arena, Ryuga let out a triumphant, “Ha!” that told Gingka they were on the right path.

“Sing, Melodia!” Gingka urged her. “Let's hear your real voice! Break free from L-Drago, I know you can!”

Gingka could feel the pain in her voice as, after a single strong beat, a new song began.

_“I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute;_  
_Couldn't bear another day without you in it_  
_All of the joy that I had known for all my life_  
_Was stripped away from me the minute that you died”_

_“To have you in my life was all I ever wanted_  
_But now without you, I'm a soul forever haunted_  
_Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted;_  
_No way in Hell that I can ever comprehend this”_

The words were quick and sharp, the tone behind them shaken and yearning. Gingka listened to every one, taking the grief she felt as she tried to convey the emotions that had caused her to be susceptible to L-Drago's influence.

_“I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone_  
_I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong_  
_How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?_  
_Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single eff'ing day”_

_“It's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending;_  
_Every scene fades black, and there's no pretending_  
_This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well_  
_There's no knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell”_

_“I never would have planned this;_  
_I tried to do what's right_  
_But in the middle of this madness_  
_I'm the one who failed to win this fight”_

_“Red like roses_  
_Fills my head with dreams and finds me_  
_Always closer_  
_To the emptiness and sadness_  
_That has come to take the place of you”_

 

Melodia grabbed hold of her anger...

...And after a long, long moment, released it.

L-Drago roared, diving towards her. Gingka cried out, but before the dragon could take her over, she was shoved out of the way, and the dark power entered her savior.

“Ryuga!” Gingka and his friends shouted in panic. On the ground in a daze, Melodia stared up at Ryuga with huge eyes as he fought against the power of the forbidden Bey.

Ryuga let out a loud snarl, hunched over with his eyes shut tight. No stranger to the dark power, he growled, “I will not...be controlled...by you again!”

With a bellow of raw determination, Ryuga expelled the tainted energy. In the arena, Lightning L-Drago let out a beacon of light that filled the stadium, the purple dragons and the aura of the Bey fading. A glowing white sphere formed, and from it shot the energy of all the Bladers that Melodia had defeated, returning to their owners.

When Gingka's sight returned, both Melodia and Ryuga were lying on the ground. In the arena, Hades Lynx spun, while L-Drago sat motionless, covered with cracks.

_I did it,_ he thought breathlessly. His friends ran towards him to congratulate him, but he rushed across the stadium to the fallen Bladers. “Melodia, Ryuga!”

As he knelt beside them, Ryuga stirred, chuckling quietly under his breath. Melodia remained still, tears on her cheeks, but breathing.

“She'll be fine,” Ryuga promised hoarsely. “Just needs rest.”

Gingka turned to him, smiling warmly with relief. “Thank you, Ryuga.”

 

“I'm so sorry,” Melodia cried, days later when she was awake and recovered. “Th-They took my family, m-my friends, everyone... I-I couldn't...”

Gingka held his hand up and shook his head. “You don't need to apologize, it wasn't your fault. Lightning L-Drago has an incredibly strong hold. I've been there myself.”

“What matters is that you're back to normal,” Kyoya added. “There is no way I'm spending eternity with a nut case obsessed with power!”

At the edge of the room, Ryuga grunted. When Melodia looked over – no doubt to apologize again – he looked away. “Now we're even.”

This quieted her, and with a sniffle, she nodded. Gingka's questioning look went unanswered, and he eventually let it go. “How about we get you to America, huh? You can hang out with the Dungeon Gym guys.”

For a split second her eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head. “N-No! I can't...I can't see them now. Not like this. Even if they don't know me, I can't...”

“Give it a rest already!” Kyoya snapped. “It's not like you can leave the Loop before it's over, so the best thing you can do is at least spend it somewhere you like!”

Melodia flinched slightly, sniffled again, and nodded. “O...Okay...”

Gingka smiled a little. “We'll go get that settled, then.”

As he and Kyoya started to leave, he paused by Ryuga. “You're even?” he asked curiously.

“None of your business,” was his sharp reply.

With a sigh, Gingka surrendered, following Kyoya out the door to book Melodia's flight to New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4.5.2 new Looper!
> 
> 5.4 Given that the MLP time loops were the inspiration for this, I couldn't not have a pony loop
> 
> 4.5.3 there are songs in this one  
> Divide from RWBY (first verse)  
> New Divide by Linkin Park (minus chorus)  
> Red Like Roses Part 2 (first verse/chorus; words slightly edited near end)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my (mom's) cat, Shadow. He passed away today.  
> (somewhat related advice: always LWAYS keep your pets up to date with flea meds IT WILL HELPTHEM)
> 
> also im fucking exhasted right now but who need sleeps

6.1

“For the last time, I'm not Megan _or_ Megumi, so could you buzz off before I get mad?” the blond definitely-Meg hissed.

Gingka held his ground. “No, seriously, you look _exactly like her_ and there's no way you're anyone else. Just listen for a minute, there's this time looping thing going on-”

“I don't wanna hear about your blazing time loops!” the blond roared. “I want you to leave me alone!”

Gingka's jaw dropped as a flame burst to life in the blond girl's palm, shaping itself into a sphere prepared for impact. “How did you-?!”

“Get lost!”

“Y-Yes ma'am!” Gingka was gone before she could do anything with her very deadly fireball.

When he was out of sight, the girl examined her hand for a moment, admiring the fiery ball before extinguishing the flame. Shoving her hair back, she began walking in the other direction, grumbling to herself, “I bet this is that blazing spirit guy's fault again. There is _no way_ I just talked to a Beyblade character.”

 

6.2

“Ryuga's Looping? That's awesome!” Kenta set down his textbook – he was going for a try at that 'finishing school' thing while they were in the Bakugan world. “Hey, if you see him again before I do, tell him thank you for what he did in the final battle, okay?”

Kyoya shrugged, absently tossing his Bakugan – SubTerra Leon, as usual – around in his hand. “No promises.”

Kenta frowned. “C'mon, Kyoya! It wouldn't be that hard!”

“I haven't run into him since that Loop,” Kyoya explained with a roll of his eyes. This gained a sigh from the smaller greenette.

“Just do it if you can, okay? If I see him first, then it's no big deal.” At Kyoya's silence, Kenta added with a pleading smile, “Pleeaaaase, big brother?”

Kyoya grunted in annoyance. “We're not brothers this Loop.”

“Don't say that! We're all a family here!”

“Your sentiments don't matter. I said I wasn't promising, not that I wouldn't attempt.”

Kenta brightened instantly. “OH! Okay!”

Rolling his eyes again, Kyoya left to go find someone to battle.

 

4.5.4

“Okay, what.” Gingka demanded of the Bladers in the fenced-off lot.

Three brunettes turned around to face him – one girl, two boys. Melodia, being that one girl, quickly turned red and let go of Toby's arm. Yes, that was Toby. With brown hair. And not in the hospital.

Masamune seemed just as stunned. “Toby!”

Toby gave a cheerful smile. “See, Zeo? I told you he'd be back!”

Zeo only gave a frustrated sigh at their returned friend, clearly not sure what to say. This was completely ignored by Masamune as he rushed over, looking at Toby in disbelief. “What happened? Are you...?”

Toby's smile grew. “I'm all better now,” he promised, then gestured to Melodia. “It's all thanks to her! What she did...I don't know if I can describe it. It was like magic!”

Melodia smiled sheepishly, then glanced nervously at Gingka. When he sent her a questioning look, she nodded – Toby's newfound health had been her doing. And unlike the first time she'd done it, she seemed to have retained her own health as well. Gingka guessed she'd been practicing that magic stuff.

Gingka sighed. “Hey, Melodia. Are you feeling any better?”

Though she didn't speak, she nodded slightly. She kept that nervous air, and Gingka noticed she had returned to Toby's side. For the moment he left it alone, as they got introductions out of the way.

_I guess this explains why the Blader we saw against the Garcias wasn't Zeo,_ he thought. With Toby healed, Zeo wouldn't have a reason to stick around with Ziggurat. Though he did wonder about the Blader in his place...

“The American team? We don't really know much about them,” Zeo answered when prompted. “They're all from this place called HD Academy, and they're wicked strong. That's about it.”

“Jack, Damian, and Shelly,” Toby added. “Those are their names.”

“Shelly is the one we saw in the video against Team Garcia,” Madoka noted.

Melodia shifted – more of a squirm, really. Nudging Toby, she whispered something in his ear, and he nodded. Turning to Gingka, he asked, “Could you come with us for a sec? Mel wants to talk to you.”

Confused, Gingka nodded. “Yeah, sure! Be back in a minute, you guys.”

He followed the pair to the trees nearby – the same place they'd gone to speak the first time Melodia had come to this world. When they turned to face him, Melodia bit her lip, then nodded at Toby. Apparently this was a cue, as he started to speak. “You're going through...time loops, right?” At Gingka's nod, he added, “You, Kyoya, Ryuga, and Mel are...conscious of it this time?”

Frowning slightly and wondering if Toby's healing had given him that strange ability to see the base run again, Gingka nodded again. “That's right.”

“Thank you. And please tell them that as well. If I had known...” Toby looked down briefly, appearing frustrated and disappointed, probably with himself. “I wish I'd been able to help. I'm just so glad no one was permanently injured.”

“They never are,” Gingka replied. “We always make sure of it.”

It was Toby's turn to nod. Then, after a pause, he held out his hand. “I'm not sure what's going on yet, but it's nice to meet you. Even if my head's a bit mixed up...”

Gingka shook the offered hand. “Did it start when Melodia healed you?”

“Yes. She said you'd be the person to tell. I'm apparently seeing another timeline?”

“The base run, yeah. Or she calls it the 'Alpha timeline'-” Gingka hesitated as Melodia shook her head. “Huh?”

Once again, Melodia whispered something into Toby's ear. He looked apologetic. “Sorry, I should've been clearer. I'm not seeing the timeline for this world. According to her, my memories match _her_ timeline.”

It took Gingka a few seconds to process that. Dumbly, he nodded. “Um...I'm not sure what to say to that,” he confessed. “You officially know more about her than I do, I think.”

As Melodia turned away looking embarrassed, Toby just sighed. “Trust me, she has reasons about not telling you anything. Her life is...pretty messed up.” He glanced at her for a moment, then added, “She wanted me to tell you something about Shelly.”

“Yeah?”

Toby had a conflicted expression on his face, as he often did when he had the extra memories and was trying to talk about them. “Shelly is...taking Damian's place in this timeline. Shelly has Hades Kerbecs. Damian has...Flame Byxis. Melodia wanted...she wants you to save her. Save Shelly.”

Gingka nodded firmly. “I promise I will. Is she...from your world, Melodia?”

There was a miserable nod in return. As Toby pulled her into a side-hug, he explained, “Shelly is Melodia's sister.”

There was a brief moment before Gingka felt his Blader's spirit burn. “We'll save her,” he promised more fiercely. “You can count on it.”

There were tears in Melodia's eyes. She said nothing – Gingka suspected that the price of Toby's health could have been her voice this time – but the shimmering hope in her expression got her message across: _Thank you_

 

6.3

“I'm sorry, can you repeat that?” Megan asked blankly. She'd been staring at Gingka for a solid five or six minutes, not only making him uncomfortable, but making him regret mentioning the other blond in the first place.

Squirming a bit on the couch, Gingka said again, “There was this blond girl, really long hair, who summoned a fireball. She seemed really ticked off that I thought she was you.”

To his dismay, her silent staring resumed, and Gingka decided to focus on something else until she snapped out of it. He looked around the cabin a bit – Pesuth sat nearby, surrounded with that weird white magic of hers. Shun was meditating nearby in a patch of grass – Gingka didn't remember it being there last time they visited – and Kenta was...doing something on a tablet computer. The spirit claiming charge of Shun's world, a red themed woman with wild hair who called herself 'Courae', had floating holographic screens around her filled with charts and data that Gingka had no hope of understanding.

“No.”

Gingka jumped a little, turning back to Megan, whose face was twitching in...he couldn't tell if it was anger or confusion, honestly. “Uh, no?”

“No,” she repeated, this time sounding incredulous. “No, no, no! What the hell!”

Definitely anger. Gingka pushed himself to the far end of the couch, just to be safe, before he asked cautiously, “Do you know her...?”

“What the hell?!” she demanded again, rising from the couch and directing her anger towards Courae. “She's not part of this! How _dare_ you drag her into this mess!”

Courae glanced up, judged Megan's anger for a few seconds, then calmly dismissed her screens. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she answered, “but if you tell me which of my siblings is in charge of 'her' world, I can call them here.”

“Stratea!” Megan practically barked. Courae simply nodded, taking a red crystal from the desk she sat at and setting it to hover over her hand. It flashed, and she fell silent – talking to Stratea through their weird crystal-based telepathy.

If he was being honest, Gingka thought a lot of this magic stuff was weird.

As Megan set to pacing around the cabin, Kenta took her spot on the couch, frowning a little. “Uh, Gingka?” He was quiet, possibly to avoid setting her off again. “Isn't Stratea the one in charge of her and Melodia's world?”

After taking a moment to think about it, Gingka realized he was right. It didn't make sense, though. “Why would she be angry that someone she knew was Looping?” he wondered curiously.

Kenta shook his head. “Evil clone?” he guessed.

Gingka just shrugged. “Maybe.”

They, Shun and Pesuth made the wise decision to leave the cabin once Stratea arrived. Megan was shouting so loud Gingka was getting a headache. That wasn't worth an answer.

 

6.4

If someone were to ask Kenta what his least favorite Loop was, he would answer, “Any Loop where Madoka is different.”

He had nothing against Madoka. She was one of his best friends, and he really hoped she would start Looping. But she tended to be a big variable, and trying to figure her out every time tended to give him headaches.

This Loop, for example. Madoka, for some reason or another, was an alien. It didn't change her personality, it didn't change her role, but she had blue skin and colorful markings and sometimes made exclamations in a language Kenta had never heard before.

Melodia, their expert on aliens, just kept giggling when he asked for help. This convinced him this was something from her world and she found it too funny to talk about. Which just made things, worse in his books.

Kenta honestly couldn't wait for this Loop to be over. It was driving him crazy.

 

6.5

Though he wouldn't tell anyone about it, Kyoya enjoyed this Loop.

It was a nice little secret. No one ever Woke Up here besides him, and if anything, it was kind of like a vacation. No saving the world, no training until he passed out, no annoying villains. Just a lot of cameras and scripts that always got messed up.

Sometimes it was his fault. Other times it wasn't.

“Kyoya! What are you doing?!” This time, it totally was.

It was also entertaining that his father was the director.

“Busted,” Gingka whispered with a grin. Kyoya rolled his eyes, smirking, then shouted back, “What's it look like I'm doing?! I'm stealing my rival's eyebrows!”

“You are not supposed to be on top of the water tower!”

“It wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't started shouting over the set!” Kyoya pointed out. From said set, he noticed Kenta had started giggling.

Probably because he was wearing the fake eyebrows that were supposed to be attached to Gingka's face.

“Get down from there!” his father insisted. Kyoya shrugged, jumping off the raised platform and heading for the refreshments.

“And give Gingka back his eyebrows!”

Kyoya turned back and wiggled said eyebrows, making Gingka laugh so hard he fell off the platform.

Ah, yes, this was the Loop where he could be stupid and not care.

 

“I swear, sometimes it feels like you were actually there in those battles,” Kenta said as they walked to Kyoya's motorcycle. (Another reason Kyoya liked this Loop) “You get so into it! Like you're a real Blader trying to take out his greatest rival!”

Kyoya chuckled at his in-Loop brother's comment. “I really connect with this character, I guess,” he answered. They'd just finished filming the episode where he was defeated by Ryuga in Battle Bladers – side note, the actor Ryuga was big on pranks and kept promising he'd steal Kenta someday – and Kyoya was more than ready for their post-work ice cream stop. Damn home memories kept telling him he should be in a coma right now.

“Hey, wait up!” a voice called. Madoka hurried to catch up. “Mind if I join you guys today? Kotone's gonna be another couple hours and I really need to get home.”

Kenta beamed. “I don't mind!”

Kyoya shrugged; it wasn't the first time Madoka wanted to tag along – her older sister helped with the sets, and was her ride. This happened often enough that Kyoya had just gone ahead and gotten her a helmet. “You're paying for your own,” he made sure to inform her.

One short-ish ride later, the three actors reached Kenta's favorite ice cream stand. While waiting for the kid to pick his flavor, Madoka commented, “He's a real sweet kid, huh?”

“Depends on the situation,” Kyoya replied. “When it involves you? Sometimes I think I'm gonna puke.”

After another spoonful of her ice cream, Madoka giggled. “You're just grumpy because I got mine first and you have to wait five minutes for him to pick.”

“Right, sure, whatever you say.” Kyoya rolled his eyes.

“Thanks again for the ride.” Madoka turned to leave, then suddenly stopped and pulled a folded paper from her pocket. “Almost forgot! I found this outside the changing rooms before we left.” She held it out, explaining, “It has your name on it, so I thought it might be yours.”

Kyoya took the paper, noting the vaguely familiar handwriting. “I didn't write it, but it might be from Yu. He likes leaving those little cheerful notes for everyone.”

Madoka shrugged. “Maybe you can ask him tomorrow.” She leaned to the side a bit, “Bye Kenta!”

The boy turned, waving excitedly. “Oh, bye Madoka! See you tomorrow!”

Madoka smiled, then straightened and nodded to Kyoya before turning and walking away. Kyoya unfolded the note, curious about what it said.

_Not sorry about the pranking wars. I won, by the way – since no one figured out it was me! Better luck next time!_

Kyoya froze for a moment. His mind shot back to a few Loops ago – no one knew who'd started it, but the entire Loop had been full of pranks, right up until Nemesis. It had been _insane._

Someone here had been there. Someone here was Awake besides him.

It could be anyone.

_Damn it._

So much for his vacation Loop.

 

6.6

“You want to learn magic?” Melodia repeated in surprise. “How come?”

“I think it'd be fun!” Gingka answered. “Besides, it's not like we have anything else to do this Loop, right? At least when you're not being a magical mermaid princess.”

After debating this for a few seconds, Melodia shrugged. “I can't promise results, but I guess we can give it a try. Did you have something in mind?”

“It doesn't matter what it is, really!”

Leaning back in her chair, Melodia hummed in thought. “Starting with little things is the best way to go, I think. Though first you need to open yourself to the magic, so...” She reached into her Koudai, and a dozen crystals spilled onto the table. “I want you to spend a few Loops meditating with these until you can identify the energy they hold, okay? I know it sounds boring, but it's really important. And we're not really in a hurry, so...you don't have to take a crash course like I did.” She smiled sheepishly.

Gingka nodded, carefully taking the crystals and transferring them to his own Koudai. “Does the meditation that Shun taught us work?”

“Sure! Whatever kind works best with you, really. And in the meantime, I'll try to figure out how teaching magic works,” she grinned.

 

6.7

“Everyone, this is Kaito and Hanon!” Lucia beamed. “Kaito, Hanon, these are the friends I was telling you about!”

Everyone in the cabin looked up – Kenta, Melodia, Kyoya, and Ryuga. Melodia brightened, slipping her book into her Koudai and jumping to her feet. “Oh, they're Looping! That's great, Lucia-san!”

“Nice to meet you!” Hanon smiled. “I hope Lucia hasn't been a lot of trouble for you!”

Kenta laughed. “Not at all! She's a lot of fun to be with! I'm Kenta, it's nice to meet you too!”

“Melodia. Mr. Green Grump is Kyoya, and the other one is Ryuga.”

Kaito chuckled a bit. “This is a lot to take in...Lucia tried to explain things, but I'm not sure I follow. Do you think you could-?”

“There was a battle that shook the universe. The energy released from it caused timelines in other dimensions to break, so we're stuck in repeat until some spirits fix it,” Ryuga said simply.

“We make the best of what we have,” Melodia added. “Why don't we head outside and I can lead you through getting your Koudai?”

“Koudai?” Hanon tilted her head in confusion. “Why do we need a Chinese pocket?”

“It lets you carry things between Loops,” Lucia explained eagerly. She reached into her own, pulling out her pendant and one of her Beyblades. “See?”

As Hanon marveled, Melodia laughed and took the mermaid-world Loopers outside. Once they were gone, Kenta thought of something and turned to Kyoya.

“Hey, did you ever find that mystery Looper you mentioned?”

With an aggravated sigh, Kyoya snapped, “No, I didn't. Damn handwriting didn't match anyone. And unless someone confesses to starting that stupid prank war, we'll never know.”

“Let me see that note.” Ryuga held his hand out. Kyoya absently pulled it out of his Koudai and walked over to the other Blader, who took it and began inspecting it.

Cheerfully going back to his maintenance on one of the group's many Beys, Kenta had to wonder, _Who could it be? Kyoya said it has to be someone from our world...I wonder if it's Benkei, or Madoka? That would be so cool!_

When his initial examination yielded no results, Ryuga slipped the note into his Koudai. “I'll run it through some people next chance I get. Looks familiar, but that's all I got for now.”

Kyoya grunted. “In other words, you don't have a clue.”

“Does it matter? It's not like we can do anything about it right now.” Ryuga got to his feet, crossing the cabin to join Kenta at the desk. He simply watched the boy work for a while, before pulling a chair over and taking out one of his books to read. Kenta chuckled, continuing his work. He wouldn't say it while Kyoya was around, for the sake of Ryuga's privacy, but he was so glad that the dragon Blader was here. During their base run travels together, Kenta had wished so much for Ryuga to join them, but it just hadn't been possible after...well, after whatever it was that happened against Nemesis. Kenta still wasn't sure, and neither was Ryuga.

But now, Ryuga would always return. The thought certainly lifted Kenta's spirits.

 

Once Kenta finished work on the Bey and returned it to his Koudai, he smiled when L-Drago Destructor was set in its place. He got to work right away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6.1 she likes fire. also she's definitely not Meg as she clearly states what a crab
> 
> 6.2 "family" time
> 
> 4.5.4 just because she's not evil anymore you think the loop is over? lol no im not done torturing these guys yet (this is actually the last part of this loop tho)
> 
> 6.3 Megan has something in common with Tetsuya, they're both crabby (im not sorry)
> 
> 6.4 i like aliens. i suck at designing them but i like aliens.
> 
> 6.5 even Kyoya needs stress relief, he just won't admit it. too bad he won't get it this time haha
> 
> 6.6 everybody run, gingka's going to doom us all
> 
> 6.7 i never do anything with the mermaid melody loopers but i promise they're having fantastic adventures or something. also Ryuga Kenta bonding it's cute idk
> 
> there was going to be more to round this off at ten pages but i shifted some loops to future chapters so meh


	7. Chapter 7

7.1

“Just trust me Kenta,” Gingka groaned, trying to forget his last Loop in the peacefulness of the lake Pesuth had made, “that you don't want anything to do with where I just was.”

Worried, Kenta drew closer. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Absolutely not.” Gingka dunked his head into the water, held it there for a few seconds, then resurfaced. “If you're desperate to hear about that world, ask Melodia. She's the only reason I made it out alive.”

Finding Melodia was easy. As she usually did when they were in Pesuth's world, she was resting in the cabin that was more or less their home.

Well, not exactly resting. She was actually flailing in anger at an unfamiliar person (Kenta couldn't tell if they were a man or a woman) that looked like some kind of athletic goth. If he had to guess, he'd say this person was one of the spirits.

“I _know_ we shouldn't have been there, your siblings have only said it five times each!” she hollered. “But since we were and it was terrible, I'm blaming you for the trauma! So if you don't get me everything on that list I'm slicing your physical body to shreds!”

The possibly-a-spirit looked very uncomfortable. “Miss Melodia, I don't think Palkia will approve of this.”

“I don't give a damn what Iroz says, this counts as clean-up duty and you're therefore bound by Triul Vow to fix it!” Melodia was starting to be surrounded by pink and purple sparks, a sign of her magic responding to her anger. “I know we can't block us from going to that world so the least you can do is get me the materials I need to make it so we don't have to go through that shit again!”

Kenta exchanged awkward glances with Yona, who was currently hiding behind one of the couches. She just shook her head, silently warning him not to interfere.

The possibly-a-spirit sighed heavily, looking at the paper – no, parchment – that was in their hand. “You know that I can't make any promises, Miss Melodia, but I'll see what I can do.”

“Sink me, Fysika does have a brain!” Melodia exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air. “There's hope for the universe yet!”

Idly remembering that 'Fysika' was one of the magic crystal types – confirming that this was indeed one of the 12 spirits like Yona – Kenta watched as their guest disappeared in a black haze, and Melodia stormed up the stairs without even noticing him. Not certain it was safe to approach her, he instead walked over to Yona, worriedly asking, “What was that about?”

Peeking out from the safety of the couch now that the danger was past, Yona explained, “Melodia and Gingka wound up in a dimension that wasn't involved with the Pinata Break. It's apparently a rough one and she's really mad and demanding we give her 'emergency supplies' so she can stop the problems quickly and have a good time.”

Kenta slowly nodded. “Gingka said it was really bad, too...What world was it?”

Yona frowned, cupping her hands and producing a magic viewing bubble. Kenta could see within it the face of a dark-haired boy with a lightning scar on his forehead. “Um, according to Melodia, it's all about this kid. She says there's a book and movie series about it, so maybe you can find it?”

“Do you know what it's called?” Kenta knew Yona and her siblings weren't up to date with any sort of media, but there was a slight chance.

“My best guess is something to do with this kid's name. Harry Potter?”

“I'll look for it next time I'm in America,” Kenta promised, deciding that was an English-sounding name. “So, um...was that person one of your siblings? The one that was just here?”

Yona seemed relieved for a change in subject, popping the bubble. “Yeah, that was Fysika. Their magic thing is physical strength, the black crystals.”

“And...Palkia? Iroz?”

“Our universe's Palkia is named Irozenith. He's the guy in charge of stuff involving space. Y'know, how things fit in worlds and planets and all that.” She paused for a moment, then added, “Though I guess there's technically two Palkias. I dunno how it works, but he has some partner or something...my cousin made that bit, I don't really know anything about Pokemon.”

Making a mental note to look into this Pokemon stuff as soon as he could, Kenta nodded. “Yeah, you guys mentioned a space god before. So they're a...Palkia.”

“Mhm. Space is Palkia, time is Dialga, gravity and death is Giratina, and overall creation is Arceus and Mew. They...actually all have the partner thing, now that I think about it. I'll see if I can get you some info on that, but I don't think that side of the family likes us very much.” Yona made a face. “Or knows about us. We're not exactly a close family.”

Kenta felt like his head was starting to hurt. “Uh, family?”

“That's...hmm, I dunno if I can go into detail.” Yona frowned thoughtfully, though it looked slightly exaggerated. “I'll have to ask Dad. We're not _really_ supposed to mention this stuff until we stabilize me—specific worlds first.”

While Kenta could understand that...to a point, he still wasn't sure about the withheld information. Still, Yona was the most open of the spirits, and this was the most any of them had said so far. Maybe... “Would I have to talk to your dad for permission to know this stuff?”

Yona looked very apologetic. “I...no, and I can't say who it is because we promised not to, but as soon as we can talk about it I'll let you know, okay?”

“Can I have a hint?” Kenta was hoping he could push just a little farther.

Yona leaned on the couch, noisily humming and misc-sound-ing in thought. At the half-minute mark, Kenta was almost certain she was trying to come up with as vague a hint as possible. At the one-minute mark, the noises came to a stop and she straightened, looked him dead in the eye, and said firmly, “It's a mortal person.”

Kenta was disappointed, but unsurprised. “Can I get another hint next time I'm here?”

“I can set up a random hint generator game and we could do it that way so I'm not directly responsible if you figure it out?”

Kenta grinned. “That sounds fun! I'll pitch the idea to Marucho next time I'm in the Bakugan world, I bet he'd like a goofy-sounding project like that!”

Yona giggled, reminding Kenta yet again how childish she was for an ancient spirit. “Okay! You do the techy part and I'll make a list of hints to shove into it!”

Already looking forward to it, Kenta's grin matched hers.

 

7.2.1

“What did you do?” Melodia demanded sharply of her companion.

Kyoya glared back. “Me? Why do you think this is _my_ fault?!”

“You're the one with the major attitude problem,” she pointed out bluntly. “And I know for a fact that I couldn't do something to piss off _Pesuth_ to any degree.”

“What does Pesuth have to do with us being on a _deserted island?!”_ he roared with fury.

Melodia seemed to be holding in her own exclamation of anger as she hissed out, “Well if you'd taken the crash course on how to sense Siqu magic like _all the other Loopers did_ then you'd know that this island is oozing with Pesuth's magic! She made this island and put us on here, so I want to know _what you did_ and _why_ I'm involved!”

Before Kyoya could snap back at her, a white stone wall suddenly landed between them, causing both to jump back. The wall wasn't big, more of a door-size than anything, but it made a large thud upon landing. In glowing red letters on either side came a message: _Until you two can have a conversation without screaming at each other, you'll be staying here. Pesuth is tired of your angry energy flowing through her world. Figure it out._

Melodia stared at the words, blinked a few times, and blurted out, “Pesuth teamed up with Ryuga.”

“What?”

“That...That's Ryuga's magic aura color, he—what the hell, Ryuga I thought you were on my side!” Melodia howled.

As if in response, more words appeared on the stone: _I'm on the side of less headaches._

“Oh go explode again you jerk!”

Kyoya couldn't help but peer around the wall and raise an eyebrow at that comment. Melodia just gave him a glare-pout mixture in response, huffed, and stormed off. “Asking us to get along is like asking me if I want another scar,” she snapped.

For once, Kyoya agreed with her.

 

Kyoya was no stranger to living in the wilderness, and so the first few days of his time on the island were without incident. He saw Melodia exactly three times, each by chance, and they parted without a word to each other.

Melodia decided to raise that number to four, as she was currently approaching him. She didn't seem at all deterred by his glare.

“A storm's gonna hit in a few hours,” she called out. “Looks like a big one. I think Ryuga's getting impatient.” Kyoya didn't respond, only grunting to himself with the knowledge that he could handle a simple storm. “I mean tropical storm levels, Kyoya!” she insisted. “Find a safe place to wait it out! There's some caves further inland that should be decently protected, I've been clearing out nearby trees...”

As he walked away, her voice faded into nothing. Kyoya could handle a storm.

 

The storm hit, and the storm hit hard. From within his cave, Kyoya watched the chaos of wind and rain, trying to calculate when it would end.

For the sake of his survival, Kyoya had located the caves mentioned by Melodia and deduced they were indeed safe. Gathering some food to stockpile inside, he'd gotten himself situated shortly after the rain had begun. He couldn't be sure of how long it had been since then, but it seemed it would be a while before the storm let up.

Unfamiliar shrieks echoed through the cave, and Kyoya tuned them out – he'd grown used to the winds in large storms, and the sounds they made. For a while he simply rested, begrudgingly admitting that Melodia's work in clearing nearby trees did in fact help – there was no danger of him becoming trapped in the cave. As for how she'd done it...well, he knew her skills with a bey. That paired with whatever crazy magic she knew was certainly enough to level some trees. She'd even stocked several of the caves with the wood, either for storage or...not knowing which he'd pick and whether he'd want a fire.

Kyoya couldn't figure her out. She had plenty of information but wouldn't share it. Yet at the same time, she offered lessons in magic. What was the difference between the two types of knowledge?

He could, to a point, understand the secrecy about her home loop – and yet, it went past simply hiding the parts that hurt. She said nothing. She would indicate, through her actions and claims of knowing different versions of people, that there was plenty at home that she cared about, but if outright asked there was no way to get her to talk about it.

What Kyoya and the others knew about her could be summarized quite simply: She had magic. She had some version of beyblade in her world. She had some version of magical mermaids in her world. She knew about 'gods' and 'spirits' and seemed to be on somewhat friendly terms with several. She was friends with Megan/Megumi. Her world had giant robot lion nonsense and Bakugan. She was half Chinese and had at least one brother and one sister.

That was it. If pressed for more, she turned defensive and nervous, and escaped the conversation if possible. Kyoya knew one time in Lucia's world she'd literally jumped into the river and fled. Sometimes she was driven to tears – which, Kyoya would admit, was usually his fault.

Gingka might be onto something with that “You're too harsh on her” thing...

Then, on the subject of Megumi...Kyoya was even less sure about her. They _knew_ even less about her. The only thing she was willing to share about her life in the world she and Melodia were from was that she liked ghosts, was Tetsuya's twin, and dabbled in mermaid magic.

The wind flew through the cave for a few seconds, and Kyoya's train of thought was lost as he tried to make himself as compact as possible against the wall. As the shrill noise died down, another noise – similar in a way to the screams of the wind – seemed to come from the back of the cave.

After a minute or so, it started increasing in pace. Shrieks? It took him a moment to realize they were human sounds; he went to investigate immediately.

He wasn't expecting to find Melodia on the ground, curled up and half-shrieking at random intervals as she tried and failed to breathe calmly. Tears across her face and fear in her eyes, Kyoya identified the problem almost instantly: a panic attack.

Brotherly instincts from at least a hundred loops took over. Pulling a jacket from his Koudai, he knelt by Melodia and spread it over her. She flinched, her gaze snapping over to him, and her next shriek seemed to be an attempt at his name. Before he could respond, she threw herself at him, curling up almost entirely on his lap while trying to hug him at the same time.

In some part of his mind Kyoya remembered Lucia mentioning something about Melodia hating storms. He'd had no idea it was _this bad._ “Your music,” he said, trying to sound gentle like he often did with a much younger Kakeru. Melodia fumbled a strange purple disc out of her Koudai and held her thumb on the blue spot on its top; music filled the cave, drowning out the sounds of the storm with incredibly loud Chinese zen.

It was a while before she was really able to move further than that. She stayed practically attached to him for what his internal clock said was about half an hour. Kyoya wasn't exactly comfortable with being clung to, but after years of giving her so much shit, he figured she deserved to not be yelled at right now. (Actually, he would've punched himself if he had. He didn't mess with breakdowns.)

Eventually she stopped clinging, but still leaned heavily on him. She wasn't able to talk yet, but she drew a doll from her Koudai, old and ragged. Kyoya briefly recognized it as identical to a spirit Meg described Melodia once having.

“A gift?” he asked. He hated small talk, but distracting her further was a good idea.

She jumped a bit at his voice, but nodded. “S-Standard,” she managed to stammer out. “Mom. First Loop I...h-had the Koudai.”

So a gift from her first life. It was honestly incredible it still existed, though if he had to guess he'd say she probably had some sort of 'last forever' spell on it.

Kyoya's thoughts were cut off as Melodia suddenly started crying again. “I'm never gonna see them grow up,” she sobbed, smashing the doll against her face. “It's not fair. It's not _fair.”_

After a pause, Kyoya asked warily, “Who?”

“M-My nephews...my cute little...”

“How old are they?”

“Th...Three and four, when my Standard ends. I got my belt from their mom, sh-she left it for me after she passed.”

Well, that would explain why she wore it in literally every loop he ever saw her in. “They don't appear in other Loops?”

Melodia shook her head. “F-From my world, only Meg and...and people like you, from the TV shows, are outside my Standards. S-Sometimes I get lucky, and Madoka has her other sister...”

“Other?” Part of Kyoya was realizing she was actually talking about her home loop. The other...didn't want to press her too hard right now because she might start crying again. He was still really damn curious, though.

Taking a deep breath, Melodia said, “I-In my Standard, Madoka has two sisters. She's the youngest. Th-The oldest was my brother's wife, Chiasa. The middle one, which is wh-who shows up sometimes, is Kotone.”

He felt an eyebrow rise. “Kotone? Looks like an older Madoka with colored streaks in her hair, different every time you see her?” When she looked at him with a startled face, he explained, “She shows up in one of my repeating Loops.”

Melodia somehow looked relieved. “Really?”

“She's usually a set designer when she does. It's....It's like we're the actors for that show we have.” Kyoya was reluctant to share this, but...it was some kind of connection, he guessed? They both knew this Kotone, even if he never really paid much attention to her.

Giggling a little, Melodia commented, “That's sure a far cry from alien ruler.”

“...Are you telling me...that in your Standard, Madoka is an _alien princess?”_

She nodded, and Kyoya didn't bother hiding his incredulousness. “What the hell?”

More giggles. “Yeah, she...she can teleport, too? Yeah? But she never used it to help Gingka. She never freaking _told_ them until freaking _Mist Mountain.”_

Briefly pausing, Kyoya informed her, “Your Standard sounds incredibly ridiculous, and I'm beginning to catch on to why you don't talk about it.”

“Right??” She sighed, petting the doll's yarn hair. “I mean...I don't talk about it because of actual hard shit that happens, but...I guess that's part of it.”

This was where Kyoya wanted to tell her to tell him about it. He wanted to _know_ what her Standard was, simply because by this point he was fed up with knowing nothing. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked instead, drawing on every ounce of patience he'd gained from Loops with Kakeru. He could feel his eye twitching, actually.

Melodia was silent. She didn't evade the question or refuse it, just...didn't answer. After a while, she turned so she could lean her head properly on his shoulder and quietly confessed, “You, Meg and I were best friends as kids.”

Kyoya...didn't speak for a while. This explained a lot about their behavior, and...he felt a bit like an ass.

“Sorry I'm an ass,” he apologized lamely. Centuries of life and he still didn't know what people expected in apologies.

“No, he's an ass too sometimes,” she assured him. “He...heh, actually in my first Standard, I wake up with....uh, it's like an amnesia issue, and I go visit Madoka and it's the night after Leone and Pegasus evolve? You flip your shit and demand 'Where's Melodia? Because you're definitely not her!' and practically pin me to the fucking wall. Like, you're _pissed off_ because I'm not acting anything like myself.”

“....Is this the part where I try my damnedest to ask in a not-sharp tone, tell me about your life?” Kyoya felt Kakeru would be proud of him right now. He hadn't yelled once. Though it was really hard not to rush her.

Melodia hesitated, and he figured that once again she would refuse to talk about it. He'd gotten something at least, he supposed. As he was about to say, _“Nevermind,”_ she piped up, “I'll share up to ToRyumon. But...I'm not ready for some details. There's shit I have to deal with every Standard and in a lot of Standard variants too, and...” She swallowed, hugging her doll closer, “I'm centuries old and I'm still not ready to talk to you about it.”

That made him pause again. “Does...the me of your Standard not know either?”

“...He knows a little. But I never went into details.”

“...Exactly how personal is this 'shit'?”

After another very long pause, Melodia quietly answered, “My dad and sister are possessed during a spirit attack on my home village when I'm only a toddler. I get thrown from China to Japan and only survive because of my inner magic draining my family's Haert in a survival instinct.”

 

Kyoya didn't know what to say to that.

He...He just nodded and let her talk about her first Standard days for a while. And with how busy those ended up being, he further understood why her Standard was usually a subject not up for conversation.

 

7.3

“You say that Palkia is a water-type dragon with a design based off pink pearls?” Lucia repeated eagerly, her eyes shimmering with excitement.

Flipping through a book she called a 'Pokedex', Megan giggled. “Yep. Dialga's a quadruped, but still a dragon, and he—their thing is blue diamonds.”

“Palkia has pink pearls,” Lucia repeated again, as if lost in a happy daze. Hanon and Kaito only shook their heads and smirked.

“Yes, honey, yes they do.”

_“They?”_

Megan shrugged. “I don't know the details, but according to...I guess the cousin of these Pokemon and the Siquties, our universe has this thing where a person and a Pokemon can bond with some sort of empathic not-even-Mew-knows-and-she-created-it stuff. Part of that is being able to, eventually, turn into your Pokemon partner. So there's two Palkias, two Dialgas, two Giratinas, two Mews, two Arceuseses...seseses.”

“Have you ever met them?” Hanon asked curiously. Megan thought, seeming to wince.

“Er...not directly, but...I guess Palkia – the Pokemon partner one – might've been some kinda help in my Standard when I had this...uh, energy...space....dimensiony displacement problem thing?” Wincing again, she added, “That also might be the reason I have two completely different Looping appearances, but it's unlikely he even knows what he did. I might've just been lucky that he saw my problem through his crystal walls and thought 'oh, that's a distortion, better fix that'.”

After a moment, Kaito asked, “But you don't know for sure that it was him who helped you?”

“Yeah, not a clue. Those Pokemon aren't really the type to leave their favorite dimensions. And my Standard isn't one of those.” Megan shrugged.

“Why haven't we had any Loops with Pokemon?” Lucia asked, finally getting a hold of herself.

Megan frowned, admitting, “I'm not sure? Maybe it's the Pokemon gods being really protective of their multi-species and those ones are just locked off. If my poke balls – uh, Pokemon containment balls – worked outside my personal Loop, I'd introduce you to some, but...”

“Show us in the book!” Hanon suggested. Megan brightened, beginning to flip through once more.

“Okay, so my partner – not like what the gods have, we're just super close – is this one ghost-type called a Misdreavus...”

 

7.4

“Ask and ye shall creeping receive,” Megumi commented the next Loop, staring at the mermaid-world trio in their Pokemon-style get ups. (Why did their clothes change anyway? Did Pokemon trainers have some rule about not being able to wear normal clothes?) “So, uh, this thing we're in is called a Pokemon Center. It's like a hospital, for...Pokemon.”

Hanon frowned. “If we talked about this in our Standard, how did they...?”

“The Siquties are like those worried parents always peeking over your shoulder, remember? They probably glance in at loops every so often.”

“So they eavesdropped,” Kaito commented, not very pleased with the idea.

Megumi shrugged helplessly. “They're only about as old as us when it comes to their conscious states and we're their only real interactions so they're not totally sure what human morals are yet?”

“Don't they ever leave Pesuth's world?” Lucia asked, her brow furrowing.

“Well, they sort of have to focus on fixing the universe, so I assume they're, you know, doing that.” Megumi glanced around the room, then suddenly jumped. “Oh! I can introduce you guys now!”

Three poke balls were brought out of her Koudai – they'd had the Siquties check with Pokemon-partner-Palkia that the balls' residents wouldn't be harmed within the pocket dimension, as he was their expert on space and dimensions – and were all thrown into the air, lights cracking out from the balls as they opened. Three ghosts were let out of the containment balls.

“Lucia, Hanon, Kaito, this is Daena, Erebos, and Sherah!” she announced, pointing to each Pokemon as she said its name – Misdreavus, Banette, and Shuppet. “My little ghosty friends, these are Lucia, Hanon, and Kaito!” She pointed according to names once again. “They also do that time looping thing that Mel and I do.”

Sherah appeared to try to hide behind Erebos, though broadcast through a general telepathy, _'H-Hello...'_

Lucia beamed. “Hi! Aww, you're so cute, Sherah-chan!” The Shuppet perked up at that, and Megumi nodded, “Yes, yes she is.”

_'It's nice to finally meet you!'_ Daena smiled. Like the 'Shiny' picture Megan had showed them, the Misdreavus was green with orange head-tail tips instead of dull blue with dull pink. _'You're the girls that have Pearl Tears like Meg and Melodia, right? Can I see?'_ The reason for her interest was clear – she had her own set of giant pearls after all, even if they were technically how she ate emotions (Kaito and the girls still thought that was really freaky).

“Will you try to add them to your...feeding supplies?” Hanon asked warily.

_'Oh, no, that would probably make me really sick! Pearl Tears have all that pure magic in them and I'm technically similar to a poltergeist.'_

“Plus, my ghosts would never take a mermaid's Pearl Tear,” Megumi added firmly, though did seem to understand Hanon's fear. “Not unless I specifically told them to for some reason, anyway, and I've never done that.”

Reassured, the girls brought out their Standard Pearl Tears, and let the pearl-enthusiast ghost admire them. Eventually Megumi dragged them all outside to begin their 'required' Pokemon adventures.

\----------

“Are you sure it was okay to drop them into a locked off Loop?” Stratea asked Yona as she watched the group through one of her magic screens. “I thought we were avoiding our cousins' territories as much as possible.”

“Meg once spent like ten Bakugan Loops studying the Pokemon world with material I provided her with,” she answered confidently. “She can totally handle this.”

“And if she can't, you'll go in and get them out of trouble?” their sister Menta asked, firmly enough that it could be considered more of an order.

“It won't come to that, but yes, that's my plan!”

From the next room over, Dinis called, “Yona, your little hint machine is making sparks again!”

The purple girl jumped from her seat and rushed out with a squeak of panic. “Nooo! Kenta said Marucho said this design would work!!”

“She probably used incompatible metals again,” Stratea whispered. Menta nodded.

“And soldered some connection wrong again,” she added.

“To be fair, wonder isn't always wise, so we can't exactly blame her.”

“We can certainly blame her. She's not letting me help.” Menta huffed indignantly. “It would be done already if she did.”

Stratea could only shrug. “She's a kid with her project, why would she ask her lame older sister for help?”

“You've been hanging out with Megan again, haven't you?” she accused.

“You can't tell me who I can be friends with!”

Menta massaged her forehead with her fingers and complained, “You're supposed to be the mature one.”

“Hey, you seem to have that covered.”

 

7.5

“You don't know how to drive?” Kenta asked in shock.

Swallowing her mouthful of burger, Melodia confirmed, “Nope.”

“Even _I_ have licenses! You—what??”

“You can pilot a space robot lion and not drive a car,” Gingka mentioned. “Something seems wrong with this picture.”

Melodia scoffed. “I can walk, bike, fly, teleport, or take a cab wherever I need to go. I don't _need_ a license.”

“What about a motorcyle?” Kaito asked curiously. Melodia looked ready to laugh.

“What? No. I leave that to my brothers!”

“Plural!” Hanon shrieked excitedly. “You have plural brothers!”

With a heavy sigh, Melodia confessed, “Three. And two sisters. Besides my twin who was born after me, I'm the youngest. Happy?”

Kenta and Gingka proceeded to do victory dances at the new information, which Melodia luckily took with nothing but a roll of her eyes and a, “You guys are dorks.”

“She also has an assortment of honorary brothers,” Megan informed them. “Mostly from Dungeon Gym, if that hasn't been obvious already.”

Melodia nodded, then stood up and stretched a bit. “Be right back,” she told them, heading for the bathrooms. Megan glanced after her, then shrugged. “Too much for today, I think.”

Lucia questioned eagerly, “What about you, Megan? What's your family like?”

An odd expression of...something, perhaps sadness, crossed Megan's face. “Uh,” she said blankly. “Er, I don't...I'm not comfortable with this topic.”

Kenta nodded. “You said you don't see them in your Loops, right?”

Megan seemed to shrink in her seat. “Mmyeah,” she mumbled in agreement. “Dimension displacement stuff.”

“What about as Megumi?” Shun asked. She brightened, but only slightly.

“Tetsuya...but you guys know that already. Um, parents...kinda normal...One of my grandmothers was a mermaid, but it started flip-flopping and now I'm not sure which one it was originally.”

Calm again, Gingka asked hesitantly, “Speaking of you...are you ever gonna talk about that clone of you that I met?”

Megan flinched, which made everyone fall silent. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Uh, right, I guess I should, shouldn't I? It's been like...what, a hundred years?” She gave an awkward laugh. “That's...uh...that's Cassandra. Er, Cass. My...My Megan-side twin.”

After an uncomfortable pause, Kenta asked, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“...I don't know. She's...definitely Looping. The Siquties have been seeing her pop up a lot and I think Yona's tried talking to her, but...Cass doesn't...know stuff.” Megan frowned. “She doesn't...she's not part of the life Mel and I had. Not exactly. All she has is a desperate want to go home and some illusion magic.”

“The fire,” Gingka mused, with some relief. So he _wouldn't_ have been burned to a crisp.

Lucia asked worriedly, “Should we try to talk to her if we see her?”

“N...Y...” Megan stumbled through differing answers before admitting, “I don't know. I don't know what Looping alone has done to her. She doesn't seem to sync up with any of us, though the Siquties are trying to line her up with me...”

Reaching across the table to touch her hand, Hanon assured her, “It'll work out somehow. Okay?”

Megan just nodded sullenly. A silence followed, long and dull, until Melodia returned and Kenta started pestering her to get a license someday.

 

7.2.2

“You're the worst,” Melodia complained when she and Kyoya were finally returned to the cabin in Pesuth's world. Ryuga, the victim of her insult, only rolled his eyes.

“There was literally nothing else I could think of that would have gotten you two to tolerate each other,” he informed them. “Besides, with you gone I could finally get some headway on our mystery Looper.”

Though still pissed off beyond imagination, Kyoya grunted, “Who is it?”

Kyoya's note flashed out of Ryuga's Koudai and into his hand. “This handwriting? The person who wrote it is far more used to typing. I'll give you three guesses.”

For a moment, Kyoya faltered. What? No. Impossible. But...if they'd lasted the prank war...

Then it wasn't so much a stretch that they could've handed him that note and pretended to have found it.

About to open his mouth, Kyoya suddenly noticed that Melodia was holding in a laugh. His eyes widened and he demanded, “Did you know about this?!”

She just started giggling, and that confirmed it. Ryuga only shrugged. “Your tech girl has an amazing poker face.”

Ryuga knew too. Kyoya was going to kill them for this.

Not until after he'd given Madoka a piece of his mind, though.

 

7.6

“Gingka if you ask me _one more time_ to make you a stupid burger I'll bust your brains in!” Madoka hollered. “I have more important things to do than cook for you!”

Kenta hurriedly started pushing Gingka away from the crabby brunette. “Let's leave Madoka alone, okay Gingka?”

“But-But-”

“Let's just go!” Kenta did not want to deal with a Sleeping Gingka and a furious Madoka at the same time. He wasn't even sure what was wrong.

As Kenta shoved Gingka outside, he was able to pass him off to Megumi, who promised to make Gingka a fantastic beefy burger. Sighing in relief, Kenta started heading for Bey Park, only to find himself stopped by Ryuga – Awake, as he had been since they'd gone to Doji's fortress.

Speaking of Doji, Kenta was pretty sure he was in jail now. So that was nice.

Kenta beamed at the older Blader. “How did it go? Did Gingka's dad understand?”

“Explaining these Loops is not something I enjoy,” Ryuga growled, “but I wouldn't get a break if I didn't do it. Is the fix-it girl inside?”

“Madoka? Yeah, but she's in a really bad mood...”

“I did steal her goggles, so that's probably why.”

Feeling his jaw drop, Kenta demanded, “You what?! Why would you do something like that?!”

“Entertainment,” Ryuga replied simply. “Let me know how it goes.”

“How what goes?” Kenta insisted, as Ryuga continued on his way. “Ryuga!”

 

“I wouldn't go down there,” Gingka warned his rival. “Madoka's been like a monster these past few days!”

Kyoya grunted, ignoring the warning and heading down. “I can handle it.”

The scene he found was very unexpected. Madoka had practically trashed her workshop, Bey parts and other supplies scattered on the floor; it looked like the spare bedroom had gotten similar treatment. Kyoya sighed, walking over to the girl and grabbing her arm so she'd stop trying to tear out her hair. “You're acting like a child,” he growled. “What the hell is your problem?”

“I can't find them anywhere!” she shrieked. “I can't work without them! They're just gone!”

Kyoya frowned, remembering Kenta's words about Ryuga's actions. Reaching into his pocket, he accessed his Koudai and fished around for something. Once he found it, he held it out to her. “Calm. The hell. Down.”

At the sight of her goggles – even if they weren't actually from this Loop – Madoka blinked, and it was like a flip had been switched. “Oh, cool.” Fixing them onto her head, she added, “Thanks!”

When Kyoya didn't respond, she tugged her arm free and started picking up her mess. It was about half a minute later when he asked quietly, “What?”

Madoka turned around, beaming. “I knew it was you.”

Again, he said, “What?” but managed a little more force.

“Oh, I get those acting Loops all the time,” she explained airily, kneeling down to scoop up a bunch of performance tips. “They're really fun to play along with. But I guess you know that, huh?”

Finally processing the conversation, Kyoya demanded, “How long?!”

“For ages! Ryuga and I actually shared our first Loop. And when I noticed you kept showing up in the acting Loops, I got really excited.” Placing the tips where they belonged, she giggled. “Ryuga wouldn't believe it was you, but I had no doubts.”

Kyoya just stared at her, one part wanting to roar at her in rage. Another was impressed with how long she'd stayed hidden. Another part was still stunned at the situation in general, so he just stood there for a while, watching her clean up. This wasn't how he'd planned his confrontation to go at all.

What the hell just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 7.1 I don't remember what prompted any of this actually...?  
> alSO the Pokemon partner thing is a thing a friend came up with it's really super cool and it'll be brought up again and eventually be properly explained probably. Also Iroz is his character he's a sweet tubby derg who doesn't quite know why space is fucked up right now but he's doing his very best to help. Not that the Siquties mentioned the loops to him buuuuuut they don't communicate very well  
> And the generator hint game thingy was completely random but hey, they're kids, they have random ideas and stuff
> 
> 7.2.1 uhhh....i think this was inspired by an MLP Loop. Discord put Applebloom and a Sleeping Diamond Tiara on a deserted island...that sounds right. But, uh, other than that, Melodia stuuuuuff.
> 
> 7.3 Pokemons
> 
> 7.4 more Pokemons
> 
> 7.5 I wrote this today and I have no actual idea what prompted it
> 
> 7.2.2 Finishing this up, Melodia and Ryuga reveal themselves to be secret keepers because messing with Kyoya is fun
> 
> 7.6 This was gonna be in the last set but I wasn't sure I liked how it went. Edited it a little and here it is.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after a million days of editing and rearranging loops, we're back
> 
> the hard thing about writing this is that i chose to include Melodia and Megumi from Mooniverse. I can't let them talk about their home loop without giving huge spoilers, so they come off as ridiculously secretive. I'm trying to come up with a way to combat that. (I say as I bring in another Mooniverse character this chapter, bravo me)

8.1

“Menta, are you sure about this?” Yona whined. “We're not supposed to let anyone else from there activate...”

“Melodia suffers through the Mytan onslaught every Standard,” Menta answered, sliding through charts and lists on her floating screens. “She has little support. Awakening this person will not only help that, but help Gingka and his friends, too.”

Frowning, Stratea asked, “You're activating a blader? Which one?”

Smirking, Menta replied, “Which do you think?”

\----------

“No Masamune,” Madoka commented idly, watching the battle he'd usually make his first appearance at. “Is that normal?”

Gingka shrugged – not needing to wake up Galaxy Pegasus, as Storm Pegasus had survived against Ryuga with his win-at-Doji's-fortress strategy, he had no reason to go to Koma Village and was able to be in town for Tsubasa and Yu's battle. “With Zeo not being here in his place, it means Melodia's probably Awake. She tends to heal Toby with her magic, so no one has a reason to leave.”

“None of us can Boop – uh, telepathically call – across that distance though, so we have to wait until we head to Brazil to see if the U.S. team is different,” Kenta added. “Melodia's trying to get some special phones made for us in her Standard, but...”

Madoka sighed. “But her Standards are hard and she forgets, right? Poor girl, I feel so bad for her. It's so terrible she can't even talk about it.”

After a moment, Gingka admitted, “I tried to convince the Siquties to let me Wake Up there once. It turns out, uh, Melodia's Loop is just about the worst there is, damage wise. Only she and Meg are _able_ to activate there.”

Kenta's eyes widened worriedly. “Really? That's awful...”

Madoka nodded. “No one should bother her about it from now on, okay? You've been terrible to her. Let's give her a break.”

 

“...Toby Wallace!”

“Welp, looks like Melodia's here,” Gingka commented later in Brazil.

\----------

As Gan Gan Galaxy, Kenta edition touched down in New York, the three Loopers were bombarded by Melodia's telepathy, rattling around in their minds. _'We're waiting for you outside! Hurry up hurry up, I wanna introduce you!'_

_A new Looper?_ Gingka wondered as they headed out. _Or a Sleeper like that time Shelly was here?_

Once outside, the Loopers looked around, spotting Melodia waving at them near the airport bus stop. With her was Toby. Eagerly, Gingka ran over. “Melodia! Great to see you!”

“You met her in your travels, right?” Tsubasa asked as they hurried along. “She used to live in Japan?”

“That's right!” Gingka always used this excuse when Melodia was in their Loop – easiest way to explain how he knew her. And hey, she _did_ live in Japan for some years in her Standard.

Melodia seemed to be bouncing with joy. Her first action was to tackle Kenta and Madoka in a hug, followed by squealing, followed by hyperly shoving Toby towards the team. “This is Toby! Toby, this is Gingka and Madoka and Kenta, and also Tsubasa and Yu!”

“Also?” Yu pouted in confusion.

Toby just laughed, not seeming put off at all. “It's really nice to meet you guys. Mel practically talks non-stop about you.” Though he was mostly looking at Gingka, he glanced at the other two Loopers as well. “C'mon, I arranged for the WBBA to put you guys in my house. Cheaper and more fun!”

As Melodia shoved everyone onto the bus, Gingka leaned closer to her and asked, “Is Toby doing that Loop Aware thing again because you healed him?”

He was nearly deafened by her replying squeal, and barely managed to notice her happy, “Nope!” afterwards.

They changed buses once they left the airport grounds, and Melodia was chatting excitedly the whole way. It would've been great conversation, if it weren't for the fact that she kept switching languages and no one could keep up. While their Sleeping friends were baffled and possibly worried by her behavior, the three Loopers just wondered what could be making her so cheerful.

And Toby? Toby just kept smiling and chuckling and not giving any answers and overall being very unhelpful.

By the time they were off the second bus and following Toby to his house on foot, Kenta finally asked, “So Melodia, you seem in a really good mood. What's up?”

Having experience with Siqu energy, he and Gingka both saw as she literally radiated a pink glow, her Haert clearly bursting in joy. “Toby's here~” she said simply, then giggled and latched onto said boy's arm. He only rolled his eyes and smirked.

“That wasn't very helpful,” Madoka muttered.

“We won't be a bother, will we?” Tsubasa asked, the glow invisible to his eyes. “Will there be enough room for everyone?”

Toby laughed. “Trust me, space is not an issue. But I hope you guys are hungry, because the rest of our team is making lunch!”

Excitedly, Yu questioned, “Does that mean Melodia's on the team with you too? Who're your teammates? What beys do you have?”

Melodia was too busy hugging Toby's arm to answer, but Toby himself just laughed again. “Yeah, she is. Mel's our leader, and the other members are our friends Zeo and Masamune. But if we told you what our beys were, that'd give you a chance to try and make strategies against us, so why would we tell you?”

“Uhh....”

Toby didn't seem bothered, though, and soon stopped at a driveway. “Okay, here we are!”

There was a shocked silence for several seconds before Kenta asked, “This is your house?”

“Yup.”

Another silence, this one broken by Gingka. “You really weren't kidding about there not being a space issue.”

Melodia giggled. “Nope~”

“This place is huge!” Yu finally yelled. “You live in a castle?!”

“Mansion,” Toby corrected with a laugh. “My mom works for the WBBA and my dad's an awesome scientist.”

“So that's how you were able to convince to let us stay with you?” Madoka asked.

“Uh-huh! Come on, we don't wanna miss out on lunch. I'm introducing you guys to the best burgers New York has to offer!”

 

Inside, Zeo and Masamune greeted them cheerfully. Bags were set in the living room, and lunch was had. Gan Gan Galaxy readily agreed it was amazing.

After everyone had picked a room to stay in and their Sleeping friends were entertaining themselves (Masamune and Yu with video games, Tsubasa and Zeo with the library), the Loopers and Toby all sat down in Melodia's room. Well, everyone but Melodia sat. She was bouncing again.

“Okay, what the heck is going on?” Gingka asked impatiently. “You've been acting all giggly and bubbly and aren't telling us anything!”

“New Looper!” she beamed in reply, before giggling once more.

Kenta looked at Toby in surprise. “Huh? Seriously?”

Toby smiled. “This is my very first Loop. We're not sure how it happened.”

“Maybe from all the times she healed you?” Gingka guessed. “...Wait, she healed you this time, right? Did it knock her Haert out of whack or something?”

Melodia shook her head. “I didn't heal him! I didn't have to! I won't have to ever again as long as he's Awake!”

At the confused looks they got in return, Toby began explaining. “First off, there's a few things that are very different in this Loop than what you're used to. To start, Ziggurat's human experiments were exposed and he's been thrown in prison. Hades Inc. and HD Academy are shut down, Damian and Jack are in recovery from their Arrangements, and Team Starbreaker is now Team Dungeon.”

“Amazing,” Kenta murmured in awe. “How'd you do it?”

Toby shrugged. “The police received an anonymous tip on Ziggurat's illegal experimentation, along with scientific evidence on the negative reactions to the psyche caused by Arrangements.”

“And we made copies so every time we're Awake we can do it again,” Melodia added, glowing again in her cheer.

“And second,” Toby continued, smiling himself, “is that this Loop has someone who can't fall to the illness because he already had a permanent cure in his Standard.”

The three Japanese bladers took this in for a moment, before Gingka asked curiously, “What do you mean?”

Melodia flopped down on the floor next to Toby, grabbing him in a sideways hug. “Remember how I said Toby didn't get an illness in my Standard, but drained his magical reserves to fatal levels?”

Silence. Then Madoka asked hesitantly, “Are you saying that this Toby is...from your Standard, not ours?”

The pink glow returned with a blinding vengeance. “YEESSSS!!”

“Jeez, Mel, that hurts!” Toby objected as her hug become too tight. “Ow! Ow! I know you're happy but I need to breathe!”

“That's great!” Gingka congratulated as Melodia sheepishly released her victim. “You have someone else from your world that's Looping!”

“Better!” Melodia flopped over, dropping her head into Toby's lap. “I have a boyfriend that's Looping!”

Squinting as he tried not to be blinded by the constant pink glow, Kenta commented, “That explains all the clinging when he was Aware of your Loop, I guess...”

\----------

“See? Adorable. Melodia's going to be just fine,” Menta promised.

On the desk, their communication crystals started glowing. Stratea, the closest, picked his up, and after a moment he frowned.

“Dad's calling a meeting,” he told his sisters. “He sounds...agitated.”

Yona's smile fell, and she looked at Menta worriedly. The blue Siquty just sighed and dismissed her screens. “Well, let's see what he wants.”

 

8.2

“Why are you laughing?” Gingka asked, perplexed. “It's not like this is the first time Ryuga's been a girl.”

Melodia couldn't find any words. She just continued being trapped on the floor by the hilarity.

 

8.3

“It was either me or some kid with grubby hands,” Ryuga told the red lizard firmly. “You should be grateful.”

Drago snapped back, _'I feel humiliated.'_

“Trust me, being a lizard is not as bad as you think it is. It's happened to me at least a dozen times. Besides, isn't it better than that ridiculous game piece form?”

_'I find offense in that comment. I'm very fond of my standard world form.'_

“Which one? You have like, twenty.”

Drago didn't know how to respond to that.

8.4

“What do you want,” the traveling blond demanded.

Not faltering, Ryuga answered, “To talk.”

“I don't have anything to say.”

“But I do.”

Scowling, Cassandra whirled around, intent on walking away. Ryuga sighed, “Your sister said you'd be a hassle. Before you go, I'm suppose to tell you that your father is alive.”

The girl stopped. He continued, “I'm also supposed to tell you that Megan meets with him every time she Wakes Up in your home dimension. She tells him so much that he's become permanently Aware. That means he doesn't jump worlds like we do, but he still has memories of the Loops. So everything she's told him, he remembers. Megan asked me to pass a message from him to you.”

After a pause, Cassandra asked, “Are you sure it was Megan? Or was it _Megumi?”_

“Is that why you hide whenever you Loop into the same world as her?” Ryuga shot back. “Is that why you haven't told her you're lining up with us?” She was silent, so he scowled and pressed on. “She's still your sister. It doesn't matter what color her hair is or what suffix her name has.”

“Megumi,” she spat, “is not my sister.”

For a moment, Ryuga closed his eyes and didn't answer. When he did speak, his words were sharp.

“That's fine, because Megumi deserves a better sister than you.”

He turned to leave, and Cassandra only looked over when she heard the crack of his lightning-strike teleportation. After a few seconds, she noticed the envelope on the ground, _Cassie_ written on it.

 

8.5

Kyoya hated Voltron loops. Everything was about space, everything was about beating a purple alien menace, and when she was Awake, Melodia got a big head about it. The only thing good about this time was that she'd used that big head to prematurely outwit their human enemy, some man called Sky Marshal Wade, and clear the name of Voltron, which meant they didn't have to be secretive and hide out on Arus.

Thus, here he was, hitching a ride with the yellow pilot, Hunk, in his Lion. As soon as they touched down in Japan, he was off. While he couldn't outright quit the 'cadet' thing, he would completely abuse this opportunity to get away from the others and train his own way.

Another thing he hated about this place? Larmina. She was trained as a warrior princess, and _always_ one-upped him in combat. He couldn't go a day without her gloating. And since the state of his body depended on the loop, and always reset, he couldn't train in other loops to best her.

So every chance he got in these loops, he went to Earth. He went to his family home (more often than not, a mansion – there was a high theme of him being wealthy) and trained with equipment packed into his Koudai, gathered (stolen) from Doji's fortress or developed especially by Marucho (how was that kid still Sleeping?) for him. He would rather train in solitude with familiar equipment than in that damn alien castle with those people.

It was relieving that Kakeru existed in this loop, though. He enjoyed loops with his younger brother, and it helped even out the anger towards this world. The boy watched him train, faithfully unquestioning of the source of his new equipment and loyally cheering him on. It reminded him of Benkei...

Damn it, when was Benkei going to start looping already?

As Kakeru brought him his water bottle, his infernal 'Voltcom' went off at him. “Hey, buddy...” Hunk. What now... “I know you're hangin' out with your little brother, but somethin's come up.”

Not bothering to hold back his growl, Kyoya demanded, “What is it.”

“An escort. There's this kid that was separated from-”

“Why the hell are we being asked to do this? There's a million normal ships that could easily handle something like this.”

“Well, uh...”

“Forget it. Where is she?”

As Hunk sent him the girl's coordinates – not entirely too far from the mansion – Kyoya started packing up his equipment. Kakeru, without being asked, left him to himself, sensing his brother's tension and knowing he'd rather be alone.

Damn it, when was Kakeru going to start looping? Why did no one _Kyoya_ liked loop? It was infuriating.

When everything was returned to his Koudai, Kyoya headed out. The coordinates, when coupled with a map, led him to a small sports store. The girl he was looking for – short, young, and sporting pink skin and huge purple pigtails – watched him approach, then curiously asked in uncertain English, “Are you with Voltron?”

Deciding that 'unfortunately' was not the proper answer, Kyoya just nodded. “Come on. The yellow pilot's waiting for us.”

The girl obediently followed him, the only item with her being a plush doll of an alien cow. Kyoya was glad that she didn't ask him anymore questions, and once they were on board the yellow Lion, he left the talking to Hunk.

The girl's name was something that, in English, sounded like 'firefly', so Hunk began calling her Hotaru, a Japanese name of the same meaning. Hunk himself was of some kind of Japanese descent in some loops, including this one, so considering that it made sense. Kyoya had no idea what his real name might be, though...

When prompted for explanation, 'Hotaru' said that her class had been on a field trip to the Galaxy Alliance buildings on Earth, and she had somehow been left behind. Kyoya couldn't fault her for that.

He could put fault on the Galaxy Alliance for not sparing a ship to get her home, though. Then again, for a child so young, maybe being escorted by a Voltron Lion was not only faster, but more comforting.

Even for a Lion, the trip was going to take a while. Though the kid was calm and quiet, and didn't bother him directly, Kyoya hated being cooped up that long. He did his best to focus on other things, such as strategies for his next battle with Gingka, and pranks to pull in his next acting loop. Should he try collaborating with Madoka...?

Eventually, Hotaru did get bored. Her little cow doll could only provide so much entertainment, and the Lion wasn't exactly equipped with a DVD player or books. With Hunk piloting, she turned to the only other occupant.

Kyoya used everything he'd learned being an older brother for Kakeru. Namely, stories. Kids of any species loved stories. While he couldn't make them up worth a damn, he had long since memorized the actions of other loops, and abused that to hell and back. Hotaru learned the journey of Gingka, the adventures of the Battle Brawlers, and multiple different versions of mermaid stories.

He felt like he was going to burst, talking to this kid so much, recounting so much that he'd been through. When would this end?

When Hotaru curled up in the second seat for a nap, Kyoya almost passed out himself. He was not prepared, not suited for this kind of thing.

“You holding up okay?” Melodia's voice came through his Voltcom, quiet and worried. In response, he groaned; she commented, “That bad, huh? How much longer 'til you guys get her home?”

After a brief glance at the navigation, Kyoya answered, “About two hours.”

“That's not so bad! If you ask, Hunk will let you walk around for a while before you two head back home. I can grab the green Lion and do a food run before you get back, too! What do you wanna eat?”

Unable to even filter his thoughts, he replied with gloom, “I'd willingly lose to Larmina if I could get one of Benkei's burgers.”

There was a silence. Of all people, Kyoya knew that Melodia wouldn't tease him, but that didn't make him much more comfortable with telling her these things. After all this time cooped up with a kid, though, it had just slipped out. He really did miss the big lug, didn't he?

“I'm not Benkei,” she said slowly after a while, “but I can still grill up a good burger. Would that-”

“Fine.”

Probably sensing he wasn't in the mood to talk anymore, Melodia didn't respond more than a grunt of confirmation. For the rest of the ride, Kyoya sat in silence, apart from the sounds of the Lion and some idle comments from Hunk.

As they set down on the girl's home planet those two hours later, Kyoya woke her up, already having taken a look at the surroundings to see where he could escape. It was a small village surrounded by bubbly-looking teal trees and filled with equally bubbly-looking wooden houses. He could probably stretch his legs walking through that forest...

After getting the OK on this walk from Hunk, Kyoya escorted Hotaru out of the Lion, watching her happily run into her mother's hug. He politely acknowledged her father's thanks, then took off immediately after Hunk came out to have a few words with them.

The ground was strangely spongey here. Kyoya hated space. Stupid planets with weird gravity and bouncy dirt. It drove him nuts. He couldn't wait to get back to Earth, or even Arus, and escape with Leone to beat up some rocks-

“Hey, wait!” Kyoya mentally groaned at the voice behind him, reluctantly turning around to see who it was. From the looks of the young man, it was some relative of Hotaru – her brother, probably, as he'd been there when they'd landed. Like the rest of his race – whatever it was, Kyoya couldn't remember the name and couldn't care less – his skin was a shade of pink, peach really, and like his sister his hair was a dark purple.

“What do you want?” Kyoya asked, barely containing his snarl. He couldn't go and be rude, _everyone_ on the team would get on him for it.

Even with his barely repressed anger, the man didn't seem bothered at all. “I was, uh, just wondering...are you um, Kyoya Tategami, by chance?”

So it had gotten to the point where his name was known. Wonderful. “Yeah, that's my name. So what?”

The man began stammering to the point where Kyoya couldn't understand a word he was trying to say. Not that he could anyway, it wasn't like he could speak-

English...

Wait. This guy _was_ speaking English. That was odd, because that language wasn't known by this planet too well. Yet he spoke it without hesitation. He'd even pronounced 'Tategami' right, which wasn't something Kyoya heard very often. Only people who heard it a lot usually got it right.

Taking a closer look at the stammering mess, Kyoya started seeing some very familiar things about him. His bulky shape, the way he nervously poked his fingers together, the muttering...

...Did he just mutter...

“Say that again,” he said, catching the man's attention. The big guy jumped, “S-Say what?”

“Whatever you were just mumbling to yourself, say it again.”

“All I said was, uuhhh...'but there's no way'-”

Kyoya interrupted him, “With the stammering.”

Apparently not following at all, the big guy tried, “'Bu-Bu-But there's no w-way'?”

His eyes narrowing suspiciously, Kyoya asked, “No way for what?”

“Uhh...no way that...you...know who I am?”

“...That depends. What's your name?”

“...B...Benkei...Hanawa?”

Silence surrounded them as Kyoya tried to formulate a response. Benkei? Everything was adding up, but it couldn't be...

There were so many different ways that he could go about this, but Kyoya settled on one simple question. “Can you tell me who Gingka Hagane is?”

In an instant, the big guy's face brightened. “Gingka! Oh, he's your greatest rival, the only person to ever defeat you! Well, besides Ryuga of course...uhh, and that Aguma guy...not that it matters! You're still the bu-bu-best!”

Well, that made things pretty clear. Before his companion could start screaming his loyalty to the trees, Kyoya walked over to him and clapped his hand on his shoulder. “I'm kidnapping you,” he informed him bluntly. “I have been craving one of your stupid burgers for three freakin' years, and I am not waiting any longer. I'll explain everything later.”

“A-Absolutely, Kyoya pal!”

As far as Voltron loops went, this was turning out to be the best of them.

 

8.6

“While I have no problems with a human form,” Drago said tiredly, “I wish it did not constantly have to be while replacing Ryuga.”

When Gingka raised a questioning eyebrow – which then sprouted wings and flew away – Drago gestured to the number of kids around them, begging to hear his dragon impression. “I stubbed my toe, roared on instinct, and _this_ happened.”

Gingka just snickered.

 

8.7

Madoka couldn't figure out why so much had gone wrong this loop. As the only one Awake, she'd tried her best to help everyone through. She'd done alright, she thought – her repair work was much faster, she didn't let herself get caught up in things, and most importantly, she was far more skilled at hacking than she once was. The Dark Nebula was almost too easy to take down.

Then, when Gan Gan Galaxy was formed, she made sure that everyone was cooperating. Advice from Melodia and Awake Gingka were just what she needed to keep them under control, and she was very proud of herself. She was even able to keep them from disrupting the Festival of Warriors. Her earlier ending of Dark Nebula's plans had prevented Tsubasa from being corrupted by the dark power, and she was able to keep Yu from running off in Brazil (something every Looper made an attempt to do). The easier they could make their loop to get through, she thought, the better.

But when they'd gotten to America, she'd tried to implement Melodia and Toby's strategy to stop Hades Inc. Since she was a foreigner, it was hard to get the police to believe her, even with the evidence she provided. Failing that, she then found herself unable to locate the others, her nerves causing her to get lost.

The person that found her wasn't one she was happy to see.

Though he caused her no physical harm, Dr. Ziggurat effectively kidnapped her when she tried to confront him. His twisted explanations for his actions only infuriated her more. When he wasn't ranting at her like a madman, she was kept in a dark room. Her laptop had been confiscated and, being the only person Awake, telepathy wouldn't do any good. Her internal clock counted down to the usual day the finals took place.

She felt stupid and helpless. She had no bey, or she would have used it to break out ages ago. Her Koudai held nothing that would help, only spare parts and extra clothes. She wondered if Gingka and the others were alright...

During the time she estimated to be the victory part, the door was broken down. Cold gray eyes stared down at her, and their owner questioned, “What have they done to you?”

Madoka couldn't answer. The voice didn't match the blader who spoke, the tone too caring, too lifelike. When he approached her, she tried desperately to duck around and escape, but he caught hold of her hood; when she tried to slip out of her vest, he grabbed her arm.

With not much else to try, she turned to force. “Let me go!” she demanded, kicking harshly at his lower legs. He only stood there, a passive expression on his face as it hit, as if he felt no pain.

Then, he let her go. She skidded to the door, not turning her back to him but making sure no one was waiting in the hall to grab her.

“I recognize your attempt to stop this,” he said. “I understand that you have failed, but actions you took previously were honorable and loyal.”

Madoka tried to think. He wasn't making any move to hurt her; his grabs had only been an attempt to stop her from leaving. He wasn't hostile, then...

“How do you know what I've been doing?” she asked suspiciously. “Weren't you just created by Ziggurat?”

Faust chuckled. “That man might have created me, but it doesn't mean he is able to control me. However vaguely, I remember your face from the life I had before. You do not belong here.”

That was...odd. No one had mentioned loops where Faust remembered being Toby. “Neither do you.”

“I have no objections to that opinion. That doesn't change the fact that you're the one with knowledge on the area. If we're to get out of here, you will have to lead the way.”

 

Dr. Ziggurat was finally shut down, and Madoka was given full formal apologies by the police force. It had been a shock to everyone when she'd stormed up to the victory party, Faust in tow, and explained everything that had happened. Masamune and Zeo were able to break through to Toby and bring him back, and it seemed he had no recollection of his time as Faust – another oddity, but one that had happened before, according to her friends' stories.

When Madoka's laptop was found and returned to her, she tried to put the craziness behind her. There was a blader-for-hire to find and befriend. With Galaxy Pegasus not needing emergency care, as Spiral Force hadn't occurred, she would have plenty of time.

 

8.8

“That's...weird,” Toby commented. “I wouldn't have expected it, but I guess in another timeline, it would be possible?”

“It's a much more peaceful way for it to have turned out,” Pesuth said quietly. Madoka and Toby both glanced at her for a moment, her addition unexpected. When she noticed their gazes, she shyly turned away and went back to her screens.

After a moment, Toby agreed, “It does sound more peaceful. I like it.”

Madoka smiled. “I thought you might.” She reached into her Koudai, searching for something she'd been given that loop. “I don't know if you want this, but he certainly didn't, so...”

Silence fell as she withdrew Twisted Tempo, encased entirely in a mixture of Menta and Pesuth crystal. Toby's eyes snapped towards it, one twitching slightly. Madoka wasn't sure, but she thought it flashed silver at the same time.

Worried, she moved to put it back, but Toby suddenly spoke. “You were working on a volcano, right Pesuth?”

“...Y-Yes...”

“Is there any lava in it yet?”

“Y...Yes?”

“Is it accessible?”

Now appearing worried herself, Pesuth completely dismissed her screens and faced him. “Why...?”

“Because Mel's been wanting to toss that thing in one for centuries, but we never have access to one, or it gets smashed by a sledgehammer first.” Toby closed his eyes for a moment, frowning. “Gah. Even with the crystal shield, I feel off. Pesuth, could you cover it up more? Or...lock it up?”

Pesuth obligingly hurried to Madoka, taking the encased bey and summoning more of her crystal around it until it was about the size of a soccer ball. Toby's expression relaxed, and he let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you. I haven't seen that in...I don't even know how long. I forgot the headache I get from it.”

When he opened his eyes, Madoka was startled to see that they had turned from indigo to silver – a reaction to the presence of Tempo, maybe? “I think I'm going to go for a walk,” he said quietly. “Would it be too much trouble to ask for a nice wind?”

“Not at all,” Pesuth promised. A brief glow surrounded her, then dissipated into the walls and to the outside world. “A windy day, just for you.”

Toby smiled. “Remind me to speak with your father about your old host. You have done far too much for us, while we do nothing to pay you in return.”

A shy blush appeared on Pesuth's face. “Oh, it's alright...I like helping.”

When Toby stood, he walked over to Pesuth, giving her hair a light ruffle. He laughed, “You've built an entire world, complete with islands, villages, and a volcano. I think you have far surpassed the definition of 'help'.”

Madoka watched curiously as Toby walked out of the room, then turned her gaze to Pesuth. When she thought about it, he had a point. In the centuries since the loops had begun – even if Madoka was still new to it – Pesuth had been constantly building this sanctuary world for them. They'd all been told to explore to their hearts' content, and give any critique they thought of. In Madoka's first visit to this world, she'd thought the size and detail might be preparation for one of two things.

“Hey, Pesuth?” Madoka had only spoken to the shy spirit once or twice. According to Gingka, she had once hardly spoken at all, but in recent years had started opening up. Madoka couldn't really imagine that silence. “Could I ask you something about this world?”

Setting the encased Twisted Tempo in a small cupboard, Pesuth glanced over at her. “Um, yes? Of course you can.”

“Well...why did you decide to build it?”

As she closed the cupboard door, Pesuth seemed confused. “Why...? Well...well, we needed a proper place to discuss matters, right? And somewhere to pull you all to when you were in need of rest...”

“Gingka said this place used to just be a river by a hill, a field, and a log cabin. But now, it's... it's like its own little planet.” Madoka stood up, walking to a nearby window. Outside she could see multiple one- and two-story buildings of stone, an orchard not too far off. “There's way too few loopers for all this to be needed. So...why did you keep going?”

Pesuth still didn't seem to understand. “We don't know how many others will start looping. Early expansion is better than having a hundred loopers with no place to go, isn't it? I'd rather you all have too much than too little...”

That confirmed one of Madoka's theories, at least. Pesuth had built up in preparation for future loopers. “Oh, of course! I'm not saying that's bad at all. It's very thoughtful of you, actually!” She saw Pesuth perk up at that. “But...there are some things about this world that don't make sense to me, for a place of temporary rest.”

Something seemed to spark in Pesuth's white eyes. Within seconds, her face was bright red, hidden completely as she started shuffling around the room and trying to pretend she was busy. Madoka tilted her head a bit, confused.

Now or never, she supposed. The conversation was already started. “Pesuth...are you trying to make a place for us to stay...permanently? For after the loops are over?”

Pesuth froze, her grip tightening on the curtains she'd been pretending to adjust. Her back was to her, but Madoka saw embarrassment and panic in her posture.

That seemed answer enough for her. Madoka slowly walked over, standing next to Pesuth and smiling gently. “I think that's really sweet of you, Pesuth.”

“I-I thought it would be unfulfilling if you all had to...to return to your worlds and...separate...once it was all over,” Pesuth stammered shakily. “Having done so much, and then living the rest of your lives apart after so, so long...I-I thought maybe...you'd all be lonely...” She lifted her hands from the curtain, clenching them nervously together. “That after so much adventure, in so many different worlds...that returning to your lives without each other...without anything new to experience...Y-You all might be...sad.”

Madoka wanted to hug her, but held back, knowing Pesuth might not appreciate the contact while she was so wound up. “I think everyone would love that. Thank you.”

Pesuth's gaze turned to her, startled. “You...You do?”

“Yeah. I bet that you'd make sure we never got bored here, wouldn't you?” Madoka giggled. “And at this point we're, what, temporal distortions? Whatever you'd call us, there's always another version to live that life, right?”

For a few seconds, all Pesuth did was stare at her. Tears then sprung up in her eyes, and she smiled with great relief. “Y-Yes! I-I'm so glad you....Thank you! I'll keep doing my best for you!”

“Your best is pretty amazing already,” Madoka assured her.

 

8.9.1

Kyoya loved the actor loops, and this one was no exception. It didn't even bother him that Kenta was his brother – or, a little weirder, that Hippo was the brother of Julian Konzern's actor.

Actor Julian was okay this loop. He brought snacks for the kids and got along freakishly well with Masamune. Hippo was taking a lot of photos to share with the others.

This time around, the director was Ziggurat. It was...unsettling. But it was the only thing that bothered him, so he could deal with it and enjoy the loop with Kenta and Hippo.

“Kyoya,” Kenta was currently asking him, “are you sure about this?”

“First off, they're rumors,” Kyoya answered. “Second, even if they're true, we can handle a few ghosts. Third, you can't tell me you don't want to brag to Megumi that you lived in a supposedly haunted house.”

Nodding, Hippo agreed, “It would be _very_ funny.”

The house in question was priced so low that Kyoya had been able to afford it with money he'd fished out of his Koudai. Their parents for the loop were...absent, most of the time, so it wasn't like there had been a problem there. Being a legal adult helped him with actually buying the house, and now it was just a matter of convincing Kenta.

“What'll it take, Kenta?”

After a minute or so of thought, Kenta decided, “You have to join us for the next game night in Pesuth's world.”

With a reluctant sigh, Kyoya agreed, “Deal. Will you live in the spooky house now?”

“I guess.”

 

Within the first hour of bringing in their belongings, they'd seen three flying plates, Kenta's teddy bear had been tied to a floor lamp with a giant black bow, and one of Kyoya's books had been taken off the pile right in front of his face and been flipped through as if someone was curious about the contents.

Communication didn't seem to do anything. Their 'ghost' seemed intent on making unpacking even more of a hassle than it usually would be, but didn't break anything. At one point it even seemed to bring in snacks, because Kyoya went in the kitchen to put away the dishcloths and a plate of cookies was sitting on the counter.

He taste tested them, of course. They were perfectly chewy, and had macadamia nuts and chocolate chips. He almost forgot to share them with Kenta.

As they settled down for their first night, the ghost turned the lights off before Kyoya could get to the switch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8.1 I has a Toby
> 
> 8.2 I've never really done a genderbend before and I personally don't enjoy the idea for my OCs, but I might do a couple with people that aren't Dia or Meg. I dunno.
> 
> 8.3 I need to do more with non-beyblade characters so have a lizard Drago
> 
> 8.4 angry Cass
> 
> 8.5 I really need to stop having more loopers appear so close to each other
> 
> 8.6 Drago is fun. I'm sure he has his own "default" human form but idk what it is yet.
> 
> 8.7 shrug
> 
> 8.8 lots more shrug
> 
> 8.9.1 Ken-Kyo brother adventures go


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So honestly I haven't touched this in months and at this point I don't think I ever will again, at least not until I can make a canon version for Mooniverse which was the whole idea in the first place. I had some more written loops left though, so I figured I might as well get them out and officially close this up.  
> The first two were planned for this set. The rest...I didn't know when I was going to use them.

9.1

“Has anyone seen Megan?” Lucia asked, peering into the game room. Gingka, Touma, Shun, and a human Drago looked up, exchanging quick glances before shaking their heads. When Lucia sighed, Shun asked, “Are you sure she's here?”

She nodded. “I saw her yesterday, but...she seemed off when we went to bed.”

His stylus tapping against his leg, Touma suggested, “Did you check the water?”

“Yeah...”

“The woods?” Gingka offered.

“Not there, either.”

Drago hesitantly mused, “Perhaps she's in one of the caves?”

Lucia thought about this for a moment, then asked, “Where are those, again?”

Setting his book on the table, Shun stood. “I'll take you. It's not too far.”

“I hope you find her!” Gingka called as they left.

 

The caves of this island weren't too far, or too big. A little ways from the village, pretty straight forward when you knew where to go. Shun often used a nearby clearing to meditate, so it wasn't any problem for him to find it. In concern for Megan, he followed Lucia in, lighting the torches along the walls with a spark of green magic – courtesy of lessons from Toby and Melodia.

For the first stretch of the cave, there wasn't anything spectacular. A few puddles of groundwater that Lucia almost tripped into, but no indication that Megan might be inside. When they reached the end of the main cave, Shun ducked into a side tunnel that she'd not seen, taking one of the torches to light their way.

“Pesuth really likes making things, doesn't she?” Lucia murmured in wonder. “There's so much detail...”

Shun hummed in agreement. Madoka had told them of Pesuth's secret idea for this to be their future home, and it answered a lot of questions about the effort she put into it. The caves, if he had to guess, were probably for Drago, since he'd once expressed an interest in exploring some.

As the tunnel branched off into two paths, Shun waved for Lucia to stay quiet, listening carefully for a clue that Megan was inside one. They heard nothing, but Lucia felt her nose wrinkle at the smell of smoke – not coming from the torch. She urged Shun towards the left path, which soon brought them to a small cave cliff that overlooked an underground lake.

The smoke that Lucia had smelled was coming from a campfire piled haphazardly together, not properly contained or controlled. In its burning light, Megan could be seen, absently poking at it with a charcoal-covered branch. She didn't appear to notice them, too distracted by the crackling of the fire.

Lucia and Shun approached her, only a few feet away when she finally realized they were there. Pulling her poking stick out of the fire, she set it aside and reached into the fire with her hands, a coat of protective shadowy-green magic keeping her from being burned. She gathered smaller bits of charcoaled wood from the edges of the fire, asking quietly in the meantime, “I guess you found my secret spot, huh?”

“Are you okay?” Lucia asked worriedly.

Megan snorted a bit. “If you're asking me that, I guess it means you haven't heard the news.”

“What news...?”

Pulling her hands back, charcoal pieces spilling out from her grasp, Megan sighed. “About my sister,” she said hollowly. “They can't sync her up with me, or even track her. She's out there somewhere, but there's little chance of me ever seeing her.”

She dumped the charcoal out beside her, taking a moment to renew the heat resistant spell on her hands, which were now covered in black marks. After that, she just sort of sat there, staring at her hands blankly.

Lucia walked over to join her as Shun set the torch in an empty sconce. Megan chuckled bitterly when the other blond sat, commenting, “I guess I deserve it, huh? I did leave her behind, for Megumi's life. This is the consequence for that. I left, and now even though she's out there, I'll never get to see her again.”

Putting a hand on Megan's shoulder, Lucia tried to comfort her. “The Siquties will figure something out, Megan! They always do.”

Slowly, Megan shook her head. “They can't do anything. Not for a very long time. My timeline...ghouls, my timeline is such a mess...it's hard for them to do _anything_ regarding it.”

“What do you mean...?”

The glow around Megan's hands faded as she ended the spell. After a brief pause, she blew sharply on them, causing the soot to shift and scatter. Spreading her hands open as wide as she could, she squinted at them. Lucia did too, curious, but couldn't figure out what she was trying to do.

Megan was silent, not moving much besides rubbing her hands together a bit and pinching soot between her fingers. Eventually she sighed, leaning back in apparent defeat. “Damn, it's no good...”

“What were you trying to do?” Shun asked, settling down at her other side.

“Something Cass was good at...she's able to read things like soot residue and ash,” Megan explained. “I can't get it to work, though...” After a few seconds, she smiled thinly. “I'm already saying 'was'. What's wrong with me...”

“You can't give up,” Lucia insisted. “It might take a hundred years, but I know you'll see her again! I'll keep an eye out, too!”

Shun nodded. “It's very difficult having to leave family behind because of our situation. We all miss the simpler days.”

Megan swiped at her face, leaving a sooty streak across it. “I-I wish...I wish I could tell you more...I wish I could talk about it, instead of complaining and hiding, but I...”

“It's okay if you can't tell us.” Lucia smiled reassuringly. “We all handle this in different ways. It's okay if it takes you another hundred years to feel ready.”

Nodding dumbly, Meg soon found herself smushed in the comforting affection of her fellow loopers. The three stayed in the quiet cave, the only sounds being those of the fire, until Megan felt ready to leave.

8.9.2

After the first three weeks, Kyoya was officially sharing his library with the ghost. In return, random sweets would appear in the kitchen. Sometimes one of Kenta's stuffed animals would disappear for a day, but it would always return with a brand new fluffy black bow tied to some part of it.

They'd figured out the ghost was probably a girl, going by the wet flour shoe-prints they found one day. Hairbrushes kept popping up, too, filled with tangles of long purple hair. Kenta usually took the time to clean them out, and was rewarded each time with pancakes in the shape of his head.

They were really good pancakes. Their ghost was apparently really into making food.

Apart from the occasional time their ghost didn't clean up after herself in the kitchen or knocked something over, there really weren't any problems. Kyoya was severely disappointed, but it didn't stop him from trying to communicate. Just for bragging rights against Megumi, really.

He didn't fancy talking to thin air, so he went out and bought a small dry-erase board to attach to the fridge. Kenta left the first note, a simple _Thank you for all the food!_ There wasn't any response that day, but when they woke up the next morning, a small heart had been drawn on the board in orange marker – it couldn't have been Kenta, because the only color Kyoya had bought was the standard black.

The boys took to writing thank yous after every gift she left, always getting a little orange heart in return. Kenta once tried asking for her name, and received a purple scribble in reply. Other such questions gained different colored scribbles, but there didn't seem to be any pattern. It was entirely possible she didn't want to talk and was just messing with them.

Hippo would visit sometimes, and something Kyoya noticed was that all the ghost's activity abruptly ceased when he showed up. It was the same with other guests – fellow actors, Kenta's school friends, even when a dog fell asleep on the porch (said dog was promptly returned to its owner after getting a million tummy rubs from Kenta). If Kyoya didn't know any better, he'd call her shy.

While out at the store one afternoon, Kyoya was rescued from a terribly flirting woman by a phone call from Kenta. He not-so-politely excused himself, walking away with his cart as he answered.

“Hey, Kyoya? Did you get a girlfriend or something?”

“Please, do _not_ joke about that,” Kyoya snapped.

Kenta sounded confused. “Well, there's a girl that's been walking by the house for about half an hour now. She just keeps circling back. Glances at the house from the sidewalk, then walks off again. Comes back a few minutes later. She kinda seems lost, maybe?”

Sighing heavily, Kyoya reminded him, “You're hundreds of years old, Kenta. If she's a stalker, you can handle her. If she's lost, you can handle her.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It's just a girl.”

 

While Kyoya was loading the groceries into his sidecar (his favorite thing about these loops was still his motorcycle), Kenta called him again. “Uhh...we may have a problem...”

“Did you blow up the house?”

“What? No!”

“Then it can't be that bad.”

Kenta huffed. “She knows about the ghost.”

“Who?”

“The girl! The one I told you about earlier! I went outside to talk to her and she asked if we were having any problems with the 'spiritual resident' in our home!”

Intrigued, Kyoya asked, “So what did you tell her?”

“I said 'I don't know what you're talking about' and then she asked where the owner of the house was. I told her you were out, then she said she'd come back later and left.”

Kyoya snickered. “I'll be home soon. I can't believe you panicked over a girl like that.”

“HEY!”

 

As he pulled into the garage, Kyoya was almost immediately joined by Kenta. The two brought the groceries inside, and as Kenta put them away, Kyoya's eyes followed the box of cake mix as it floated across the room and was abruptly dropped into the trash can.

“Will you stop that?” he griped. “Not all of us can bake from scratch.”

From seemingly nowhere, a different cake mix box appeared, taking the place of the previous one in the cupboard. Briefly, Kyoya stared at it, then walked over to take a look at it.

It was cake mix. A different brand, but the same flavor.

When he turned back around, something was on the fridge board.

_1 N_  
_2 Y_

“You're kidding me,” he said flatly.

There wasn't a response this time. The ghost didn't write on the board when someone was watching. Kyoya chalked it up to her being eccentric and just went to the backyard with the charcoal for the grill.

When he and Kenta went back in the kitchen later to pick out dinner, a stack of paper was on the counter, along with a large cardboard box. Inspections revealed they were baking recipes – cake, brownies, icing, cupcakes. The first half of the stack showed recipes from scratch, while the second repeated them with less ingredients and steps, claiming it to be a “box mix” version. However, it specified that they could only use the box mixes provided.

The cardboard box was full of what seemed to be homemade box mixes.

Kyoya stood by his thought that their ghost was an eccentric baker. He shelved the boxes (she'd just put them back on the counter if he threw them away) and tucked the recipes into a paper folder Kenta brought from his Koudai. The folder went next to the boxes.

As they tried to get back to deciding dinner, the doorbell rang. Kyoya sighed, but went to answer it.

The girl at the door bowed slightly when it was opened, and Kyoya's first impression was that she was some kind of witch fanatic. His second was that she wore far too much purple.

“Hello! Am I to assume that you are the owner of this house?” she asked politely. “I was here earlier, but you were out.”

Ah, so this was the girl Kenta had seen before. “Yeah, that's me. What about it?”

“Your brother seemed unaware of the situation when I asked him, but how are you getting along with the spiritual resident of this house? Are they causing you any trouble?”

Leaning on the door frame, Kyoya responded, “What business is it of yours? I don't remember ever telling anyone my house was haunted. Why would you believe that, and more importantly, why do you care?”

“I am the reaper responsible for this city. I must ensure that any spirits remaining here are peaceful, otherwise I must escort them out.”

A reaper, huh? Well, that was new. If she wasn't so upfront and serious about it, he might not believe her. She didn't set off any alarms, though, so Kyoya decided to play along. “She bakes for us and borrows my books. Hasn't broken anything besides a flour bag, and cleans up after herself.”

The reaper seemed intrigued (Kyoya made a mental note to ask Megumi about reaper fashion, she still screamed 'witch' to him. And if anyone would know, it'd be her). “You know your ghost's gender?”

“Deduction. Shoe prints.”

She nodded. “I see. Has there been any communication?”

“We have a white board, but she only draws hearts and scribbles. Sometimes numbers. Never when we're looking.”

“Does she cause trouble for guests?”

“She disappears any time we have someone over.”

“Is anyone else aware that she is here?”

“Me, my brother – you freaked him out earlier, thank you very much – and a friend of ours.”

Taking notes on a small computer tablet she hadn't been holding last time he blinked, the reaper nodded. “How long have you lived here, and how long have you been aware she was present?”

“Three weeks to both.”

“Do you have any clues as to what her identity might be?”

“I'm currently going with 'eccentric baker'.”

That gained him a tiny smile. “I see. Anything else you think might be of note?”

“Is it normal for ghosts to leave full hairbrushes sitting around?”

With a raised eyebrow, she answered, “Only if their hair was important to them when they were alive.”

So their ghost was vain on top of an eccentric baker. Wonderful. “Is that all?”

The tablet was gone, as suddenly as it had appeared. In its place was a business card. “For now. I may wander past every once in a while to check on things. If anything happens, let me know.” She extended the card to him, and he took it – if only to get her to leave.

“Thank you very much for your time, Kyoya,” she said as she walked away.

Biting back a retort, he stepped back inside. It took him a few seconds before he recalled he hadn't said his name. _Damn reaper._ Deciding there was nothing he could do, he looked at the card. It was easily the plainest business card he'd ever seen, holding nothing but her name, title, and phone number.

_Her name's Dream, huh?_ Kyoya glanced out the window, watching her as she walked down the sidewalk. _I hate when I feel like these weirdos are familiar...She's probably a Sleeping looper..._

??1

“I am so sorry this has to be your first loop,” Melodia said quietly to her companion as they sat in his bedroom. “People keep Waking Up for the first time outside their standards. I don't know what to say.”

“I. Am. Purple.”

“I know! Really, you should be red, that's more your color. At least you're still humanoid, right?”

“I have two sets of ears.”

“I said humanoid, not human. You can't win 'em all.”

“I have three eyes!”

“And I gave you an eyepatch! Listen, some loops suck! I'm sorry your first one had to, but once we deal with this stupid 'marriage' thing they came up with, we can sit back and let the loop run its course. I'll even marathon the plotline with you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” the alien prince demanded angrily, shooting to his feet. With a sigh, Melodia stood as well, reaching into her Koudai to pull out the DVD case for Voltron Force.

“You see this? Voltron. This tells everything about their next battle against evil. Current battle. Whatever. This planet has nothing to do with it. Therefore, loop logic dictates that we can do whatever the hell we want and it won't affect that battle.”

One of her companion's uncovered eyes twitched. She frowned. “Touma, I already explained the loops to you. I already told you about the tv show worlds. I already told you there's no way out of this. What more do you want from me?”

When he didn't answer, she returned the DVD to her Koudai and put her hands on her hips, sighing extravagantly. “Fine, then I guess you don't want to hear about all the prank ideas I thought of to get back at your dumb-ass royal court. I guess we're getting married. I guess me, an abducted human, is going to suffer with her new prince husband-”

“If you don't stop talking I'm literally going to punch you in the face.”

“I've faced literal demi-gods in battle, Touma. You don't even come close to scaring me.” Without even a flinch, she retrieved her music disc and pendant from her Koudai, activating the former and putting on the latter. Music from Touma's world spilled out into the bedroom, and Melodia abused the hell out of her magic to sing along and calm down the frustrated new Looper.

It took almost an hour before he stopped scowling at her.

It took another thirty minutes before he stopped ignoring her and was willing to hear her prank ideas.

 

??2

Shun enjoyed when Kenta visited his world. The younger...or rather, older looper always had interesting stories about his loops. He was very eager to learn more, as well.

This loop itself was rather interesting. Instead of Dan, Shun had been the one to get Drago – which was fine. Drago was Awake as well, so they were getting along just fine.

“None of your other friends have Woken Up, huh?” Kenta asked, noticing Shun looking longingly at a photo of his friends that he usually kept in his Koudai.

“Runo was, once,” Drago corrected. “Other than that, it seems to be just the two of us.”

“Runo, huh? I would've expected Dan.”

Shun nodded slowly. “We did, too. Even stranger, it was during our time on New Vestroia. Drago was the only one Awake then, and he had a hard time getting with her alone to explain things.”

Sounding amused, Drago remembered, “We played Tag that loop. It was probably her idea of staying calm about the situation.”

Kenta had to giggle. “Runo's pretty fun. I can't wait to start looping with her!”

Smiling, Shun agreed, “I look forward to it as w-”

From the trees above them dove the form of a person, slamming their hand down on Drago before anyone could react. The Bakugan shouted in alarm, and Shun rushed to grab the attacker, but stopped in surprise when she shouted triumphantly, “You. Are. It!”

“R-Runo?” Drago spluttered.

Pulling her hand back, the Haos brawler smirked. “You didn't think the game was over just because the loop ended, did you? I have been waiting since you turned into the Perfect Core for this chance!”

“That was four years ago!” Shun exclaimed. “How long have you been Awake?”

“The entire thing.” Runo's grin was Megumi-levels of sass. “And I knew you were all Awake, of course, but it was more fun to play along. Except in Lars Lion's trial, of course, I kicked her butt.”

Kenta demanded, wondering how the others hadn't thought of this, “How did you get on New Vestroia?!”

“Same way I always do, just actually did it right this time.” Runo laughed. “Now then! Let's go find my partner, huh? I am so not standing in the background and letting you _boys_ do all the work this time around!”

After a brief silence while they tried to catch up with what was happening, Drago commented, “You know, I think that she would get along very well with Madoka.”

A bit scared at the idea, Kenta still had to agree, “I think you're right.”

“By the way, you two are totally part of the game now.”

“You're going to regret that, Runo,” Shun smirked.

“No, I'm going to enjoy the challenge.”

 

??3

“Haruka!” the mechanic holding Storm Pegasus said cheerfully. “Haruka Amami!”

As Gingka and...Haruka, did their thing, Kenta quietly slipped a computer tablet out of his Koudai. Unfamiliar Sleepers weren't uncommon, but it was still interesting when one came up. Curious to see if she was the friend of a looper, Kenta brought up the list they'd started compiling of possible future loopers, and searched for her name.

There it was. In that Touma guy's section, Amami Haruka, a girl from his world. One of Melodia's little star doodles was by her name as well, meaning a version of her existed in her world, too.

_She does look a lot like Madoka,_ he noted, glancing over at her as she began working on Pegasus. _I can see why she'd replace her._

He took out his tablet stylus and circled her name, indicating that she'd appeared in a sleeping state. When he next visited Pesuth's world, it would update on the master list they had there, and everyone else would see it as they passed through.

_We really need to work on communicating better,_ he thought. _Melodia's working on those phones for long-distance stuff, but I wonder if there's a way to link our tablets between the different dimensions? Menta would probably know._ He wrote a quick note to ask her next time she visited Pesuth's world.

Although... _Now that I think about it, Pesuth's been the only Siquty there for a while now,_ he realized. _Is it because it's her world, they're giving her space? Maybe they're just working harder on fixing the loops, that could be it._ Under the first note, he wrote a second one to ask Pesuth about it. As an afterthought, he included Melodia's name – out of everyone, she was closest to the Siquties, so she might know something.

Kenta put both tablet and stylus back in his Koudai before they could be noticed, then turned his attention back to his current loop. No one had Booped him yet, but it was always possible someone would Wake Up later, or they were too far away, like Toby or Melodia.

_This loop's going to be interesting anyway. I can't wait to see what Haruka is like!_

 

??4

“This world has legitimate weaponized music, is what you're telling me.”

Lucia gave Kaito's replacement a flat look. “I guess you could put it that way...”

“I'm starting to realize that my world might be the only normal one out there,” Touma scoffed. “First I deal with aliens, now mermaids, demons, and gods? What is _with_ you people?”

Hanon frowned at him disapprovingly. “Normal is relative, you know. We all think our world is the 'normal' one at first.”

“I'm not the one with a crazy life!”

Snatching her Tear away from him, Lucia snapped, “Fine then! Do whatever you want, I don't care!” She turned and stormed off, muttering, “I can't wait until Gaito brainwashes you.”

“Lucia!” Hanon called after her, shooting another glare at their guest before running after her friend. “Lucia, wait up!”

Touma groaned, putting a hand to his face. So far he'd been to 'Voltron Force', 'Beyblade', 'Pesuth's world', freaking 'Voltron Force' again, and now he was in what appeared to be called 'Mermaid Melody'. Why couldn't he go back to his own world? He'd love that. He really would. All this stuff about aliens and magic was driving him crazy.

 

At the end of 'season 1', he stood by his declaration of 'weaponized music'. The mermaid princesses had quite literally drained Gaito, his in-loop brother, of all his powers, and sunken his castle in the process. The recently purified Orange princess, in love with the guy, had died with him. Lucia claimed her successor would be born later, and had also warned him not to go to Hawaii. Why would he go to Hawaii?

The only thing he could really stand about this loop was that the usual Purple princess, someone named Karen, had been replaced by Melodia. She'd been decent company during his first loop. The Green princess 'Rina' was also replaced by someone named Megumi, but she was Sleeping, so it made no difference.

Melodia, however, made a difference.

“His first loop was with you, huh? That sounds like it was a big hassle,” Hanon commented, as if Touma wasn't sitting right there.

Melodia laughed. “Oh, it was fine! I'd say we bonded quite well. Our relationship has been founded upon the mutual love of pranks and cooking.”

Lucia blinked, while Touma griped, “You're ridiculous.”

“No, I'm serious! Even though my cookies beat his turkey by like, a thousand lightyears, our relationship stands quite strong.”

“You need to stop talking.”

Hanon giggled. “Oh? And how is Toby taking this?”

“He understands that our relationship was built in a stressful time-”

“Friendship!” Touma finally exploded. “Quit trying to make people think we're together, you stupid lump!”

Melodia grinned, continuing cheerfully, “Sometimes we hit a rough patch, but we make it through.”

She quite expertly dodged both pillows that Touma threw at her, then ran out of Lucia's bedroom to escape his chase, laughing so hard there were tears running down her face.

She'd been like this ever since she'd shown up, to his dismay. Damn that first loop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 9.1 Anything I might've had to say about this is long forgotten. Um. Yeah.
> 
> 8.9.2 I don't remember what Dream was all about, maybe she was Melodia or maybe she was like a spiritual clone of her as the Siquties did some experimenting for something? I'm not sure if I ever even figured it out. Frankly, I'm only half sure that the ghost was somehow related to Melodia. I don't know.
> 
> ??1 Touma is a grumpy pants
> 
> ??2 Runo will never surrender to the likes of you
> 
> ??3 Kenta is a smart boy and I love him. He's definitely been my favorite character through all of this.
> 
> ??4 Touma gets put through so much
> 
> And that's all! Thanks for sticking around for this experiment and sorry it ended so abruptly. It'll be back someday.


End file.
